Why is there an elephant in Gossolengo?
According to an old legend Hannibal, who at the time of the second Punic War stopped in the countryside around Piacenza, left in custody an elephant, wounded in a battle, to the farmers around Gossolengo village. After a first mistrust, the people got used to the presence of that particular animal; the farmers decided to keep the elephant with them and after the recovering, using it to the fields working or a transportation way.
When the elephant died, the farmers who became attached to it, decided to dig a hole and give it a proper burial.
Nowadays the municipal coat has a elephant illustrated on it, as a memory of this legend.
Gossolengo is 15 kilometers from Piacenza. The city was founded in the same year when the Carthaginian leader won on the Roman army. It was 218 B.C.
Actually, during the “Trebbia battle”, Hannibal Barca managed to create a surprise effect, using the elephants, which survived the Alps crossing. The Roman army was drawn to the cold water of the river Trebbia. On the 18th of December the Roman army had to face an unknown fight element and they decided to move to Piacenza.
