Morano sul Po: sights, history and trails

The municipal coat of arms represents a head of blackberry and a rampant lion, accompanied by two stars, with the shield surmounted by a cemetery. It is not clear the origin (the head of moron probably wants to have assonance with the toponym) and does not follow the heraldic rules; it was probably designed in a hurry, half the Ventennio, when it was decided that all the municipalities had to have an emblem representing them.^[18] and is used by the municipality without a formal decree of recognition or concession. The gonfalone in use is a blue drape,

Located in the homonymous street, it has exposed brick exterior walls and semicircular apse. The interior is three aisles, divided by robust plastered columns with painted grooves supporting arches a sixth acute. It is not known the date of foundation, probably it was built by Dominican friars in the early 1400s with adjoining monastery now missing. It was the seat of the Brotherhood of S. Pietro martire, known as the White Cappa, whose age of constitution is unknown.^[19]

Among the frescoes of the interior is the triptych of the right aisle dated 1478 by an ancient school that has also operated in the chapel of Our Lady at the Sanctuary of Crea. It represents the Virgin surrounded by St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, St. Rocco and San Pietro Martire in act of adoration.^[20]

Located in the Via Giovanni Pietro Gallo, the church has a cross-shaped plan and exposed brick facade, marked by parastes, in two orders with timpano; in the second shelf opens a window with a sinuous upper profile. On the back of the left side of the building rises the bell tower, which has a bulb ending. You do not know the year of foundation, but it certainly dates back to an earlier age at 1608. It was the seat of the Brotherhood of the Red Cappa, aggregated in 1608 to the Archconfraternity of the SS. Trinity of Rome,^[21] which was authorized the red dress during religious ceremonies. The purpose of the Association was to provide hospitality to pilgrims and convalescents, as well as to provide the dowry for the poorest girls in the country. Inside there are frescoes of second-class school, restored during the 19th century.^[22] The church was consecrated in 1989 by the Parish to the Commune. It is used occasionally for associative and cultural purposes.^[21]

It is located on the road to the hamlet of Due Sture a 2 km from the town of Morano. From a stone walled above the entrance door, the church would be built in 1277 by Guillelminus de Careto, rector of the Religious House of Morano of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem.^[23] He was probably a nobleman of the Del Carretto family who wanted to build it as a result of the birth of a son obtained by divine grace.^[24]

The lower part of the façade consists of an atrium with three arches full-sixth unequal. The upper part is finished by a timpane. At the bottom of the right side of the church rises the bell tower. At the rest of the outer wall adheres to a lower construction, which in the past served as a chaplain's house, while the sacristy is at the base of the bell tower. The interior is rectangular, barrel vaulted, which extends into the presbytery-coron in turn slightly narrow and with a cruise. The date 1732 is read in the two rooms. Until the century. XIX was indicated as the church of Consolata. It has not been known since he took the current name “of the Ceppo”.^[23] According to the popular tradition, the simulacrum of Our Lady was found by a farmer under a strain. He kept a wooden statue of the Virgin sitting in throne dated around the year 1200.^[24]

It is a baroque chapel located on the embankment, in the homonymous street after crossing with Via Po. The construction date is not known. Until the century. 19th on the day dedicated to San Rocco there was a procession that ended in the parish church. During the 20th century, it was used as a storeroom for agricultural instruments and defaced by the construction of an electric cabin. He is currently in a state of neglect.^[25]

It is located in the San Giovanni Region of the hamlet Due Sture. It is dedicated to St. John the Baptist and has always been dependent on the Parish Church of the Nativity of Mary Virgin of the ancient trade mark fief of the Torrione di Costanzana. Since 1986 it has been united to the Parish of the Blessed Virgin Assunta in Robella di Trino. It belongs to the Archdiocese of Vercelli.^[26][27]

It is the church of the hamlet Pobietto, a large agricultural estate founded around 1185 and organized according to the model of medieval monastic granges belonging to the abbey of Lucedio. In the ancient and central part of the settlement rises the church whose date of erection and consecration is unknown. Dedicated to Saint Nicholas Bishop of Mira, in 1457 with papal bubble of Callisto III is elevated to detachable vicars remaining tied to the Abbey of Lucedio until 1474, year in which it is inserted inside the Diocese of Casale Monferrato. It became a parish church in August 1713, the following year Giovanni Battista Scapitta, engineer of the Doge's Chamber of Monferrato, begins the reconstruction of the new baroque style church, characterized by greater volume and visibility of decorative elements. It has a single nave with three altars, with a small choir and a presbytery. The main altar of the church is dedicated to St Nicholas, while the two minor altars are dedicated respectively to the Virgin of the Blessed Rosary and Saint Joseph. Towards the end of the eighteenth century by papal concession, the church of St. Nicholas passed to the Maurtian Order and in 1805 was reassigned to the Diocese of Vercelli.^[28] In contrast to the capital Morano, he did not return to the Diocese of Casale and still, despite being part of the Municipality of Morano, is of vercellese relevance. The Parish in 1986 was joined by the Parish of San Bartolomeo di Trino.^[26]

The parish recreatory, also known as “Il Ricre”, is a building dedicated to the youth ministry of the parish of the capital. Located in the Via Giovanni Emanuel in the site of the ancient cemetery, it was built on a project of 1909 by the Engineers Pietro Fenoglio and Giovanni Antonio Porcheddu, operating in Morano between 1906 and 1912 in the cement industry.^[29][30]

The architectural lines were very similar to those of the former military manufacture of Corso Regina Margherita in Turin, made by Fenoglio in 1907.^[31] Following the 1994 alluvial event, a two-phalt cover was inserted which modified the facade's Liberty appearance. It is used for theatre performances and events. The outdoor area is equipped with a volleyball court and a synthetic grass soccer field.

There.Autodrome of Morano sul Po, also known by the name of track Casale Monferrato due to its location near the homonymous city of Monferrato, is a now abandoned car circuit located between the municipalities of Morano sul Po, Coniolo And Pontestura.

It is a Gothic house (XIV-XV century) located between the Municipal Palace and the Parish Church. Currently it is the seat of the Civic Library “A. Ferrari”.^[32]

The building was built in 1839 by the then Medico Condotto dott. It's crazy.^[33] In 1879 it was adapted for public needs and intended as the seat of the Municipality. It is equipped with a portico overlooking the main street of the capital that houses under the first arch a plate of granite of remarkable dimensions called "stone of the doctor”.
The popular tradition designates the stone block from the belt of an ancient hospital built in Morano in the 12th century. by the Knights of St. John.^[34]

The Arch of Morano sul Po is a parabolic arc infrastructure that allowed the cable car to safely exceed the state during transport of the concrete marin from the Palazzina Borino di Coniolo mine to the cement plant in Morano. It was built in 1951 by the company Unione Cementi Marchino/Unicem of Casale Monferrato on project of Engineer Guido Sarti and remained in operation until about 1958. It is a system built on the track of a previous teleferic realized by Riccardo Gualino in 1908.^[35] The structure is reinforced concrete and consists of two parabolic arches, connected through two sets of beams per side. The impalcato used to protect the road from accidental material falls was removed following the disposal of the plant.
The Arc was the subject of recovery by the Municipality of Morano sul Po as evidence of the industrial identity of the territory.^{[36][37][38][39]} Near it is realized a center of interpretation of the industrial memory consisting of a container called "Heritage in a box” and from an interactive web app.^{[40][41][42][43]}

It was located in February 1994 following the start of an agricultural pavement inside a laughter situated north of the hamlet Pobietto. The necropolis consists of cremation burials, partly placed inside rectangles of circular or rectangular shape with earthen tumulus. It was the subject of a first emergency recovery and, since spring 1995, of an archaeological survey funded by the Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage, articulated in four campaigns, which led to the recovery of over forty tombs in 1998. The site, located at 129 s.l.m. on the hydrographic left of the river Po, it includes an area of 14,600 m2 and is not visitable.^[44][45] The excavation campaigns were accompanied by multidisciplinary studies, from the realization of an exhibition at the Civic Museum of Casale Monferrato and from the edition of its acts (2006).^[46]

A part of the Moravian territory is affected by the Management Board of the Protected Areas of the Piedmontese Po, born in 2021 from the union of the Park of Po Torinese, the Park of Po Vercellese Alessandrino and some areas of the territory of the Parco del Po Cuneese.^[47] At the hamlet of Pobietto, the park has an operational headquarters built in 2012 in a portion of the ancient grangia equipped with a conference room, an educational laboratory and an external portico that allows the conduct of outdoor activities.^[48]

The territory of Morano is homogeneous compared to the predominant crop of rice, the country's main economic resource. The processing activity is mainly carried out in the local reservoir and in those of the neighboring municipalities.

The cultivation had been established during the 19th century, introduced in the vast feudal estates in possession of local lords, encountering the adversity of the population due to the environmental problems connected to it. First intended for land of difficult use, rice became little at a time a product no more marginal, but subject to particular attention to the economic benefits it promised. At the beginning of the 20th century the territory was cultivated for a third rice and for the rest to wheat, meliga, lawn and vegetables.^[49]

During the 20th century. the majority of inhabitants of Morano left fields for industry finding occupation in the local cement plant^[50] and in the companies of the nearby centers of Casale Monferrato and Trino. Significant was the emigration to the urban centers of Turin and Milan.

Morano has been an important cement production centre for more than a century. The activity began with the opening of the railway station where in 1887 Bertone was established and in 1899 Zaccone, Fornero and Cinzano were both equipped with lime furnaces and vertical concrete ovens. The raw material came from the quarries of Coniolo by means of wagons that crossed the river on boats.^[12]

The technical improvements of production systems, the greater demand for ligands due to building and industrial expansion and financial economic crisis in the early century (1905/06)^[51] favoured large capital investment in the nascent industry. In Morano (1906) the Società Anonima Cementi del Monferrato degli Ingegneri Pietro Fenoglio and Giovanni Antonio Porcheddu succeeded Bertone and the Anonymous Society of Casalesi Lawyer Riccardo Gualino succeeded Zaccone and Fornero. After the unification of the two factories between 1912 and 1919 by the Italian Union Cementi, the plant followed the fates of the Gualino group.^[52][53]

On 1 January 1933, the industrial activities of the Italian Union Cementi were incorporated into Marchino, a company controlled by I.F.I. of the Agnelli family following Richard Gualino's financial district. The new Union Cementi Marchino, based in Casale Monferrato, had a paritetic capital between the family Marchino and the Agnelli family.^[54][55] The Engineer Vittorio Bonadè Bottino, CEO succeeded Dr. Ottavio Marchino in 1943,^[56] He directed the company until 1969-70, taking care of the modernization of Morano cementworks between 1950 and 1960 with Engineers Aldo Sarti and Guido Sarti. Following post-war upgrades, the number of workers increased by more than 500 units.^[57] In 1969 the social name was changed to Unicem (Union Cementerie Marchino and Emiliane and Augusta SpA).^[58]

At the end of the years '80 the cement plant was alienated to the Merone Group, which continued production until the beginning of the 21st century. Between the 2007 and the 2010 the plants were dismissed and dismantled.^[59]

During the 20th century, the country had the presence of small and medium-sized construction and metal companies operating in the cement industry. In the years70 It is80 some production activities of leather bags and accessories had been established.

In the last hundred years, starting from 1921, the resident population It's halved.

Inhabitants registered^[60]

• Loco
• AVIS
• "Famija Moranèisa"
• Civil Protection
• Boccioni

In the football field, Morano was represented by U.S. Moranese founded in 1908. In the years20 It is30 of the 20th century, the team managed to establish itself on several occasions in the regional field by awarding titles of world champion and regional champion.^[62]

Many militant players in the U.S. Moranese continued their activity at the Casale Foot Ball Club, playing in the Italian championship series: Enrico Migliavacca with 11 appearances in the Italian national team, Ernesto Lino, Ernesto Molghea and Angelo Morzone.

The team has always played amateur championships. The municipal sports field, entitled “Pietro Bazzano”, was located in the golenal area of the Po river in the territory of the municipality of Coniolo. Following the 1994 and 2000 flood events, the company ceased any activity due to its inability and subsequent disposal of the sports plant.

Morano is represented by U.S. Bocciofila Moranese is located in the municipal bocciodromo “Walter Pane” on the edge of the river Po in the territory of the municipality of Coniolo. The facility is equipped with outdoor and indoor bowls and a tennis court.^[63]