Archaeological Find Reveals Forgotten Medieval Village of Cemo in Bardolino
Now and then, from the slumber they had to endure, forgotten archival documents resurface, recalling places that once held some fame in bygone times, but whose traces have been lost over the centuries. This is the case of Cemo, a location on the Bardolinese hills, mentioned in medieval documents.
The discovery of Cemo
Well: the ancient Cemo has now been found. To trace its historical remains, one must climb up to the Rocca. The road winds up in switchbacks through the vineyards, with cypress trees marking its path. After passing the former San Colombano priory and reaching the level of the trattoria al Bersagliere, you turn onto the narrow road leading to Tusini, the salesian school.
Before reaching the institute, there’s the sign for the «Strada di Sém». The name Sém is how a portion of the «mountains» of Bardolino is known. At first, many think it refers to biblical Shem, son of Noah.
Origin of the name Sém
Furthermore, this is a wine-producing area, and tradition attributes to Noah the role of an early vintner: he was the first to plant a vineyard and to experiment with the intoxication produced by wine. The patriarch was five hundred years old when he fathered Shem, Cam, and Japheth, who populated the earth after the flood.
But in reality, neither Noah nor his son Shem are connected to the Rocca. In fact, Shem is a contraction of the name of the ancient Cemo, mentioned in a document from the monastery of San Colombano of Bobbio dated 1198. It speaks of a land piece «iacente in Cemo ante arcem Garde», meaning «located in Cemo, before the castle of Garda».
Hypotheses on the etymology of the name
It has been suggested that the Sém of the Rocca in Bardolino corresponds to the lost medieval Cemo. This hypothesis was proposed by Professor Fabio Gaggia in a 1995 volume dedicated to the «Mulino dei padri camaldolesi». And perhaps the Montenarius de Cém mentioned in the «Breve recordationis de terris ecclesiae Santi Colombani», the list of lands of the Gardesane monastery of San Colombano, rented out in the second half of the twelfth century, originated from these Bardolinese hills.
This Montenarius had leased a mansio, that is, an estate, and had committed to paying significant rents in grapes and olives, plus a pork shoulder to be delivered at Christmas, a capon at Carnival, twenty-four eggs at Easter, and meals for those working during the harvest.
As late as 1680, as Bruno Chiappa reported in a 1996 conference, the monks of San Colombano owned about twenty plots in the Bardolino environs: Cemo was also listed among them.
Origin of the toponym Cemo
«Regarding the etymology of the toponym Cemo (currently Sém), there are at least two interpretations», writes Gaggia. The first comes from the «Vocabolario toponomastico della provincia di Brescia» by Gnaga, suggesting it derives from the Bergamasque sém, meaning «summit».
In an unpublished text by Gardesan Pino Crescini, it is hypothesized that the name might instead derive from a combination of Latin terms: «caenum», meaning «mud», and «fimum», meaning «fertilizer» or «manure». According to Crescini, it would therefore be a «marshy place» frequented by animals grazing freely. Could this be the origin of the ancient Cemo?
