Averara is a tiny village along the Via Mercatorum, a medieval route linking Bergamo to the rest of Europe. Being on this route meant influencing and being influenced by the cultural trends of the time. A confraternity of penitents called disciplinati (or disciplini) became particularly influential between the 13th and 15th centuries. Usually looked with suspicion because of their emphasis on the mortification of the flesh, the disciplinati were often branded as heretics, but theologian and preacher Venturino de Apibus popularised this extreme religious practice in the valleys surrounding Bergamo. Around this…
