“Another cascina?” you might ask. But Cascina Costino is more than just another farmstead. It is a testament to Lombardy’s agricultural heart. Here stands a structure with stories embedded within its very walls.
Cascina Costino is located outside the city center of Lodi. It presents itself as an isolated rural architecture. The farmstead embodies a specific type of rural building called a cascina. These buildings were traditionally found in the Po Valley of northern Italy.
Let’s journey back in time. Imagine the Po Valley centuries ago. The 16th century saw the rise of these cascine a corte. They became even more common in the 18th and 19th centuries. During Napoleon’s era religious buildings were seized. Some of these were converted into cascine.
The term cascina itself has medieval roots. It was originally spelt capsina caxina or cassina. The word possibly comes from the Vulgar Latin capsia. Capsia meant corral or stockyard. Another idea connects it to the Old Italian word cascio. Cacio means cheese. This suggests these cascine were often dairy farms.
Picture the layout of a typical cascina. It is a square-yarded farm. It sits in the middle of cultivated land. Buildings line the courtyard’s perimeter. These buildings include houses stables barns fountains ovens stores mills and dairies. The main house was for the owner or tenant. Simpler buildings housed peasant families.
Some cascine were like small villages. They housed up to one hundred people. They had churches inns and even schools. They were sometimes fortified with walls towers moats and drawbridges.
The High Po Valley had smaller cascine. These housed only 4 to 6 families. The Low Po Valley cascine were larger. They could house 10 to 15 families or more.
The peasants working here had specific roles. Campari maintained irrigation. Bergamini cared for the cattle. Casari worked in the dairy. Bifolchi used oxen for tillage. Cavallanti used horses. Contadini were general farmers mainly harvesting hay. Larger cascine also employed carpenters masons and blacksmiths.
Cascine mainly produced wheat maize rice barley milk and cheese. They also cultivated trees like cottonwood elm and mulberry. Cascine near cities like Milan grew fresh vegetables. These vegetables such as cabbage and carrot were sold in urban markets.
The 20th century brought decline. Cascine lost their vital role in the Po Valley economy. Many were abandoned and fell into disrepair. Some were demolished. Others were absorbed by urban sprawl. These were converted into residential buildings schools hotels restaurants or commercial areas. Milan’s airports now sit on land once occupied by cascine.
Today Cascina Costino serves as a residence. It has a central rectangular structure. A closed wall surrounds it preventing access.
While many cascine have disappeared some still function today. As of 2008 at least 43 cascine in the Province of Milan were still producing milk.
So the next time you pass a cascina remember its history. Think of the families that lived and worked here. Think of the food they produced. Cascina Costino stands as a reminder of this rich agricultural past. It is a piece of Lombardy’s heritage preserved in brick and stone.