Passerano Marmorito: sights, history and trails

The coat of arms and gonfalone were granted by decree of the President of the Republic of 19 September 1996.^[6]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the city refer to the coat of arms of the Radicati, feudal lords of the town, who brought one inquarified shield: at 1st and 4th of black, the golden eagle, crowned with the same; at 2nd and 3rd of silver, to the chestnut rooted in natural.

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It stands out imposing on the village with its irregular structure and its remarkable dimensions. Its current construction was built in the fourteenth century and expanded over the next three centuries, but its origin is attested to the Early Middle Ages. In 1550 he was occupied by the Spanish and fortified, in the following year he was attacked and expelled by the French Marshal Brissac. In 1617, the castle was again devastated and only in the middle of the century Alessandro Radicati was eager to restore the ancient manor. The south-west part was built, and later north of the main building, which had turned into a factory, defended by towers and Bertesches, built the so-called "Palazzina del conte Adamo", a minor building decorated with four side towers. In the 19th century the castle was restored and preserved until today without substantial alterations. Through the medieval gate, which rises to the right of the mint, you enter the fence, from where you can admire the church baked and the wide portal of access to the building. The two oldest parts are connected by a wing built in the 17th century: the north side stands out for two towers (there were four of them once) located at the corners, while the south part contains a square tower and has an external wall with a rich frieze and sharp arched windows. The interior of the castle presents stucco and furnishings preserved with scrupulous care. Of particular interest are the rooms of the upper floor, to which it is accessed through an imposing staircase adorned by two sandstone capitals of the first Gothic depicting the signs of the zodiac. The main room is enriched by a coffered ceiling, signed by a certain Grana Cake in 1484, finely carved, whose decorations, bright colors, represent the coats of arms of many noble houses. On the lower floors you can visit the rich library and apartments of Count Giovanni Battista Radicati. In the tower room, finally, are collected relics of German musician Robert Schumann, brought there by Julie Schumann (1845-1872), third daughter of Robert and Clara, who stayed in this castle having married at Lichtental, near Baden-Baden, on 22 September 1868, Count Vittorio Amedeo Radicati of Marmorito.

Surrounded by a lush park (currently partially abandoned), in a suggestive position, it presents itself today with changed characteristics compared to the ancient manor. These changes are attributed to the reconstruction by the Radicati, after the attack of the French troops in 1598, and to successive and massive restructuring interventions, the most significant of which occurred at the end of the nineteenth century. On the side of the main building you can still find the remains of the ancient medieval walls accompanied by a wound.

The castle of Schierano remains today that the large square stone tower used as a bell tower of the church of San Grato.

Over the centuries many times depreated and plundered to date there are only wall shreds. At the castle of Marmorito is linked an ancient legend that sees a lord of the Radicati in love with a young vercellese. The Count kidnapped the maiden and took her to the castle; unpredictablely the girl returned interest in the Radicati, but the bishop of Vercelli assaulted the castle and, finding it empty, burned it. The two lovers, along with the staff of the castle, had escaped through an underground that dug in Passerano.

In 1526 Emperor Charles V sanctioned the autonomy of the Radicati in their county and granted the further privilege of beating gold and silver coins, a concession that was fully realized only when the state of war ended. The first coins were issued from 1589 by Passerano's mint, still existing building, located on the left of the entrance door of the castle fence. One of the first mint masters in Passerano was Tommaso Roglia, from Turin, who had taken in the contract, besides the tick of Passerano, other ticks of Monferrato. The initial "T R" letters by Tommaso Roglia appear on different coins beat at Passerano. In Passerano's mint were mainly counterfeit coins of the great ticks; in fact, they were minted coins of very low alloy, so that the mint made large sums. In addition to the local coins, they imitated low-alloy lumbar, venetian, Swiss, German and French coins. The mint continued its activity until 1598, when the privilege was revoked by the Duke of Savoy, as it continued to mint counterfeit coins. The building, skillfully restored, is now used as a library and hall for civil ritual weddings.

Late Baroque style, has a simple brick façade with a pleasant curvilinear crown and a beautiful bell tower, also in terracotta, in line with the facade itself. Inside the decorations are simple, in shades of blue, pink and white. The church consists of three aisles, a central and two lateral and is illuminated with natural light that filters from finely designed ovoid windows.

Both in baroque style and without bell tower (the medieval tower of the lost castle is used as a bell tower of San Grato), San Grato represents the main church, while San Sebastiano, not far from the previous one, was once home to a confraternity.

Dating back to the seventeenth century, it presents itself to a central nave with lateral arches; in the center of the facade stands the statue of the protector "San Lorenzo". The bell tower, originally Romanesque, raised and restored at the beginning of the twentieth century by the parishioners who contributed to the construction of the canon, the church's loggia and the erection, in the centre of the square, of the statue of Mary Helper. The church, on the back side, is connected, through a Roman arched bridge, to the castle so that, to the nobles of time, direct access to the church itself.

In the valley that divides Primeglio from Passerano, in "Monasté", a small monastery dedicated to San Michele was once erected. The history of this building is ancient. In the list of the properties of the Church of the end of the 13th century, but no longer in the following ones, there is a "prioratus de Primelio", whose dependence is indicated on the "monasterium sancti Januarii", that is to say by the Abbey of San Genuario di Lucedio. The priory is to be identified with the church of San Michele di Primeglio («ecclesia sancti Michaelis extra et prope locum Primelij que vocatur Ecclesia Monasterii») which is still existing at the beginning of the 17th century (pastoral visit of 1606), but broken («diruta») and apparently no longer linked to the abbey of Lucedio. The dedication to San Michele refers to a origin definitely before the XII century, when for the abbey mother the added title of San Genuario began to prevail on the primitive one, in fact, of San Michele^[7]. It is now reduced to a ruin of which the oldest part remains almost intact (the Romanesque stone apse) and would require re-evaluation, given the importance of the site. On the right side you can still see the remains of a tomb, that of the Marchioness Benedetta d'Ovando y Pereyra who, at the time, had the church restored, allocating her own shrine there. The altar, recovered, was placed in the church of "La Madonnina".

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, in fraction Marmorito, is currently a subsidiary church of the parish of Saints Peter and Paul,^[8], but in the past it was the seat of a separate parish.^[9] It is isolated from the other buildings of the village, not far from the top of the hill that houses the ruins of the castle. In 1891 the bell tower was raised, which is located posteriorly to the building, on the left looking at the facade. The rest of the church was deeply modified in 1904. It is rectangular and with semicircular apse. Inside it is divided into four camps and on the sides there are some chapels.^[8]

Inhabitants registered^[10]

Passerano became famous in the early 1980s thanks to Giorgio Faletti who, playing Carlino's character on TV show Drive In, recited the phrase "I'm from Passerano Marmorito, the town is small... people murmur!".

Since 2011 he has been twinned with the French commune of Beauvoisin, in Drôme (Provence).^{[without source]}