Fortunago

The name Fortunago comes from the Celtic Fortunacus, a settlement marked above a watercourse. The village sits in the Apennine half of the Oltrepò Pavese, the wedge of Pavia province that crosses the Po and presses south toward Liguria, with Varzi to the south and Pinot Nero vineyards to the east. The centro storico climbs the ridge in a single line: the oratory on the lower slope, the church at the upper end, the tower and wall on the rise just past it, so that walking through the village is walking up through its history in order, watercourse settlement, medieval defense, then parish seat.

Above it all the hills carry oak and chestnut wood and a pasture plateau. What holds the place together is the stone itself: the same exposed façades, wooden shutters and porphyry paving run from the lower oratory to the upper church, restored as one piece rather than as separate monuments, which is why the village reads as a whole settlement rather than a scatter of old buildings.