How it all began

The origins of a twinning link between Romsey and Treviglio in northern Italy can be traced back to 1999 when educational links were initiated between Romsey Community School and the Simone Weil language college in Treviglio.

Gian Battista Scrivanti and Patrizia Martini, teachers at Liceo Simone Weil , and Alison Spottiswoode, a teacher of Italian at Romsey Community School and subsequently Taunton’s College in Southampton, used reciprocal educational visits to establish close links.

Then, in the early years of the new millennium, Town Mayor Dorothy Baverstock and Twinning Chairman Mike Bull worked towards formalising links between the two towns. 2005 saw the first “exploratory” reciprocal visits. In May of that year a party of 12 from Romsey made the first visit. The party included Mike and Jane Bull, John and Tessa Parker, Alison Spottiswoode, Karen Bolton and the then Mayor Jill Gethin.

In 2010 a group of Trevigliesi, led by Gian Battista Scrivanti, formed the “Amici di Romsey”. Since then there has been a series of reciprocal visits, interrupted only by the Covid years. Every visit - typically a long weekend from Thursday to Monday – has an organised programme of events, including an excursion and a formal dinner. Romsey Twinners have visited Bergamo, Milan, Lake Garda, Cremona, Brescia, Pavia and Mantova. Meanwhile the “Amici di Romsey” have been taken to Winchester, Bath and Oxford as well as being treated to the delights of the Romsey Show and the Beggars’ Fair.

In March 2014 a “Patto di Amicizia” (Pact of Friendship) was signed in a ceremony at Romsey Abbey involving the respective Mayors, a pact which was renewed in Treviglio in October 2022. 

The link has also extended beyond twinning exchanges and Romsey Twinning has been active in helping to promote and facilitate other links between the two communities. These have included visits to Treviglio by Romsey Abbey Girls’ Choir, Romsey Youth Choir and RAODS, and visits to Romsey by TAE Teatro, a theatre group based in Treviglio who have appeared twice at Beggars Fair.