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Soncino is a young city: it was officially granted city status only in 2004. On Monday 2 November 2012, however, I went there to check how well deserved another of its titles is: that of one of «the most beautiful villages in Italy». My verdict: it is deserved.
The Rocca Sforzesca looks as if it has come straight out of a medieval story:

Unfortunately, I found out too late that from Tuesday to Friday it is open only until noon. They say that the interiors have also remained almost in their original state.

A good part of the 15th-century city walls is still standing: about two kilometres of fortifications, complete with towers and moat.

In the 19th century the Austrians demolished all four medieval gates. Today, white columns stand in their place.

The Pieve of St Mary Assumed, the most important church in the town, is beautiful (especially inside), but it interests us for two other reasons.

First of all, inside it not everyone is equal before the Lord…

… and secondly because its dome features a Madonnina far more beautiful than the one in Milan.

In another local church they managed to misspell the name of the saint whose mummy is displayed inside.

Of the medieval water and sewage system I found only a small canal and the remains of a few mills. One of the latter was well hidden beneath a formerly industrial building located near the Rocca.

In some stretches the historic centre looks mediocre, in others macabre.

But beautiful buildings appear quite often.

Under the Portico Rosso, built in the 18th century to host a market, I made a fine ethnographic discovery. Unfortunately, I do not have the habit of entering other people’s homes without permission, so let us move on.

Just a few steps away stands a small work by a drunken surveyor.

The truly ugly corners, which I found rather uninteresting, are in fact few. This is what they look like:

What is interesting, instead, is discovering a type of litter bin I had never seen before: the idea is not bad, even if the bag was fitted by an incompetent employee.

In front of a bar I then found one of the most beautiful ashtrays in the world. I have a proposal: bar and restaurant owners should each place a bin at the entrance of their premises — the speed at which it fills up with cigarette butts would provide an index of the place’s popularity (and therefore of its quality).

Next to the entrance of the St Paul oratory we find the installation «Young people and road safety» by the Rotary Club. The intended message did not reach me: perhaps I am no longer that young, but all I saw was a wrecked car (in any case, the airbags were deployed — perhaps young people are being encouraged always to install them).

Among all the shops in the historic centre that I saw, only one had anti-ram bollards. The curious thing is that it was a simple optician’s shop.

In Soncino it is not only glasses thieves who roam about, but also road-sign thieves. Perhaps this is why street-name signs are attached to as many as two poles.

The castle moat is protected from vandals by a very efficient turnstile.

I do not know why, but this suburban post office made me think of American landscapes.

I will conclude by saying that the agricultural sector is still strong in the Soncino area. Just a short walk from the historic centre there are small farmsteads responsible for some interesting landscapes.