Calosso: sights, history and trails

The coat of arms and gonfalone of the municipality of Calosso were granted by decree of the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi of 19 July 1999.^[5]

Coat of arms

Banner

The gonfalone is a white drape with the edge of red.

Flag

The flag is a red rectangular drape at the cross of white.

For more than a millennium its imposing silhouette has been vigilant, from the top of the hill that stands between the valleys of Nice and Tinella, on the town of Calosso. Longevous testimony of the events that occurred to this small village, the castle marks its history through the eras, retraceable, until lost in the Middle Ages. Because from here, from before the year 1000, it starts its history, as this period is found the first traces, albeit vague, of its existence. Traces that, although confused by the numerous interventions made to its original structure following war events and restructurings, allow to fix the highlights of the evolution of the ancient manor. In fact, we know that in 1318 the village of Calosso is involved in the conflict between the guelphs of the Solaro family and the Ghibelline faction of De Castello di Asti. The Guelphs destroy the entire castrum of Calosso.

In 1377, the entire fief of Calosso was purchased by a noble Astigian banker, the Marquis Percivalle Roero di Cortanze.

In 1387 Calosso with his castle was one of the possessions of the dowry of Valentina Visconti, who married Luigi d'Orléans.

On October 11, 1592, during a pastoral visit, St. Alexander Sauli, bishop of Pavia (diocese from which Calosso was dependent), was "surprised by a serious and dangerous disease in the castle of that place, where Fr Ercole Roero had stayed" (according to G.S. De Canis, 1816).

The death of the bishop aroused such an impression that in 1683 the chamber of the castle was converted into public oratory and, in his honor and perpetual memory, the inhabitants of Calosso indicated on the same day the patronal feast.

At the gates of 1600, we find Calosso besieged by the Spaniards and later recovered by the Savoy, thanks also to Captain Catalano Alfieri who, at the head of the French troops, cries enormously swamped all the castle.

We then go to the Peace of the Pyrenees of 1659, when the fortress of Calosso loses its strategic importance and is transformed by the Roero family of Cortanze, lords of Calosso, in an elegant and noble country residence, to take on the connotations still presently found. Following these transformations the castle loses its original physiognomy of the imposing 16th-century fortress that cingeva within its walls the entire historical village, composed among other buildings, by the church of San Martino. The cylindrical turret remains and the access arch to the reception. Currently of small size compared to the original one, the structure is traceable to a series of L-shaped bodies, dominated by the massive cylindrical tower adorned by hanging arches and perfectly intact guelph merlons.

Of particular interest are then the five hundred-century bastions, which were also unaltered, which characterize the north side of the fortress. The walls of this segment, overlooking the large park, still presents the wounds and openings of the crates, structure bomb proof, introduced after the adoption of artillery, both offensive - aimed at hosting vents from fire - that defensive, intended to shelter men and materials; moreover it is still possible to see a posterla, narrow and low passage through the walls. The access to the inner courtyard is presided over by a typically sixteenth-century portal that, in ornamentation of the upper section of the stipete, the coat of arms of the Roero family, depicting three wheels, and the Gavigliani family, depicting two roses divided by a horizontal band.

The current owners are the Conti Balladore Pallieri, direct descendants of the Roero di Cortanze.

Inhabitants registered^[7]

According to ISTAT data at 31 December 2009, the resident foreign population was 147 people. The nationalities most represented by their percentage of the total population living were:

• Macedonia Republic 81 6,09%
• Bulgaria 21 1.58%

There is little documentary information on the parish of San Martino. Intitled in San Martino, bishop and confessor, raised in the last decades of the '600, the church presents itself with a facade rich of friezes in its central, high and slender part, consisting of two superimposed bodies divided with hysenas and ending with a timpane. Towards the end of the 19th century, the baroque construction was deeply restructured: in 1896, in fact, the building was expanded on its sides, at the expense of the side chapels. It was evident that then the 18th century frescoes attributed to De Canis and to the youth period of the canellese Giovanni Carlo Alberti, lived between 1670 and 1727. Between 1929 and 1930, the decorations of the vault and walls were made by Monsignor Bosio's express will. On the side of the sail rises the bell tower of 42 meters.

The municipal administration of Calosso organizes every year the Rapulé Fair, which generally takes place on the third weekend of October and takes its name from the "rapulin" collection operation, that is the smaller bunches that remain after the harvest of grapes.

The festival offers a wine and wine tasting with wines and typical dishes between crotìn, the cellars dug in the tuff that preserve the best wine.

The village of the country comes for two days animated by music, exhibitions and theatrical events. The Rapulé Fair is an ideal opportunity to visit the Calosso Castle, kindly open for the occasion by the owners, the Baroque Church and the restored wooden choir of the Parish of San Martino and the four ancient steps of the historic center.