Canelli: sights, history and trails

The gonfalone is a yellow drape with blue edge.

Already documented in public acts of the 12th century, the church was largely rebuilt during the second half of the 17th century, and expanded at the end of the 19th century with the addition of the tiburium, presbytery and apse. It preserves interesting furnishings and paintings from Baroque times.

It dominates the village from the top of the hill of Villanuova. The ancient parish of San Leonardo in medieval times was located more upstream than the present, but the 17th century war events and a series of landslides that undermined its stability made it necessary to re-edit on the current site. It was started in 1682 by the headmaster Stefano Meloni; in 1691 the bell tower was completed, and in 1694 the new church was finally open to worship.

The church of San Rocco, entirely covered in stone, dates back to its present forms at the 18th century and is located in a dominant position, near the castle. The building was built in the eighteenth century when, following the demolition of the city walls, the fraternity of the San Rocco districts gave way to the construction of this yard for the erection of a religious building on site, after the transfer of the church of San Leonardo in its current position. The works began in 1727 and ended in 1740 when the altar was consecrated.

The church is typically characterized by style with a niche in the area above the facade and a curved timpane that gives vertical momentum to the entire structure. On the left side was added in 1765 a small portico where there is also a small stone staircase that once united the ground floor of the church to its organ.

The rich Canean brotherhood of the Annunciation began in the 18th century a new oratory for its officies which was finished in 1731. The site was previously housed a fifteenth-century oratory of the same brotherhood that was partly demolished and partly incorporated into the structure. The church is also known as "Addolorate" for the presence of a statue of Mary grieved. Location of the Romanian Orthodox parish of S. Andrea Apostolo, has been modified with the addition of an iconostasis precisely for this use.

Built at the beginning of the eighteenth century and originally home to the Brotherhood of the Black Baptists, the structure of the church has been heavily refurbished in the years '50 of the 20th century what was decided the disgrace: the facade, once richly decorated, was among other private ones of the upper timpane and the bell tower that remains only the base.

The building, first used as a parish kineteater and then as a meeting place for the elderly, was modified also inside where the ceiling was lowered than the original through the construction of a wooden insole. The structure, owned by the parish, was the seat of the local band.

The construction of this building began in 1903 thanks to a legacy of the Canean priest Francesco Sacchero, thanks to the interest of Monsignor Giuseppe Marello, with the intention of creating a work for benefic purpose for citizenship. The structure was requisite during the First World War when it was used for military purposes, then returning to be a center of distribution of charity for the local poor. The institute, always under construction, built in 1932 the chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart (but more locally known as Santa Chiara by the name of the pre-existing convent within which the structure was erected). The property was officially completed in 1935.

With the end of World War II, the institute hosted a theological student and preparatory school that remained there until 1960.

The Castle of Canelli or Castello Gancia was built in the 11th century to defend the roads that led from the city to the ports of Savona and Vado Ligure. The castle was then destroyed in 1617 during the war against the Monferrato. Rebuilt and renovated in 1930 by architect Arturo Midana as an elegant villa, it is owned by the family Vallarino Gancia.

Canelli is also famous for the underground cellars of aging of sparkling wine. These are true underground cathedrals, which branch out under the city, masterpieces of engineering and enological architecture, where millions of bottles left to ferment at the constant temperature of 12-14 degrees take on the aromas and flavors typical of sparkling wine and Canellese. The city often compares with an inclement nature, for example that linked to the frequent floods of the Belbo stream; disastrous was the 1994 flood, when mud and water invaded the cellars, causing the loss of much of the fermented sparkling wine, with damages for millions of euros.

Fortunately, the ingenuity and will of the canellesi always allowed to go out high from these serious emergencies, perhaps also because of the diversification of the local industrial basin that for some decades has been devoted, as an alternative to wine, also to the eno-mechanics, ie to that set of products such as autoclaves, capsules, water tankers, fillers, capping systems and closing, gutters,

In the northern part of the municipal territory there is an ancient sighting tower, now known as a panoramic point on the surrounding hills and the Alpine and Apennine chain.^[10]

Inhabitants registered^[11]

According to ISTAT data at 31 December 2010 the resident foreign population was 1 742 people. The nationalities most represented by their percentage of the total population living were:

• Republic of North Macedonia 934 8.67%
• Romania 272 2.50%
• Morocco 138 1,27%
• Bulgaria 124 1.10%

• Siege of Canelli: the siege to which the city was subjected in 1613 by the troops of Carlo Gonzaga, Duke of Névers
• Fair of San Martino and Regional truffle fair.
• Underground cathedrals
• Canelli is one of the Municipalities participating in Palio di Asti, and achieved a victory in 1974, with the jockey Mauro Finotto known as Jora, on the horse Anin / Spumantino.
• Canelli participated in Games without frontiers on 18 August 1971.

The main fractions^[12] by Canelli are:

• Aye
• Brave
• Canton
• Cheese
• Castellero
• Ceirole
• F.
• Fountain
• Marmo
• Merlins
• St. Anthony
• Serra Masio
• Star

The economy of Canelli is based on the processing of sparkling wine and moscato and the important eno-mechanical sector recognized excellence worldwide. The city is known abroad for all the wine induced, and eenology, being one of the capitals of world wine. The municipality is home to many historical wineries, such as Gain, Bosca, Tosti-Giovanni Bosca, Bocchino, Contract, Coppo and many others. Tosti-Giovanni Bosca, Coppo, Gancia, Bocchino and Bosca are family-run.
The main vines cultivated on the municipal territory are:

• Moscow
• Barbera
• Dolcetto
• Cortese
• Chardonnay

The main wines produced are:

• Asti (Objective) Asti Sparkling)
• Muscat d'Asti
• Barbera d'Asti
• Dolcetto d'Asti
• Cortese dell'Alto Monferrato
• Freisa d'Asti

A so important presence of wineries has also favoured the birth, since the 1990s, of many companies for the production of wine making machines.

Canelli received the Orange Flag, the certificate of tourist-environmental excellence of the Italian Touring Club^[13].

• Maipú (Mendoza)
• Luján de Cuyo
• Ganzhou
• Men
• Piazza Armerina
• Mezőtúr
• Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok

• Sport Association Canelli, which throughout its history has played in the Promotion championship

A.S.D. PEDALE CANELLESE, School of cycling affiliated with the Italian Cycling Federation

• Rally Colli del Monferrato e del Moscato