Pino d'Asti: sights, history and trails

Nearly on the border with the province of Turin, at the extreme northwest ofAstigiano on a dorsal placed between two small valleys, the village of Pino d'Asti is nestled on a gentle hill.

To reach the town it is necessary to take the provincial for Castelnuovo Don Bosco - Gallareto which joins state road 258 Asti-Chivasso; the closest train stations are Montechiaro d'Asti, on the Asti-Chivasso and Chieri, where a line branches off to Turin.

The origin of the name of the village is certain: it derives in fact from the presence of pines in the territory. From ancient sources is cited as Pinetum.

Pino d'Asti, in the past centuries was called Pine of Castelnuovo Don Bosco for the proximity to the latter, since the Middle Ages, is included in the committee of Monferrato: the fief is attributed first to a family named after the locality, then to the lords of Cocconato that hold it for more than three centuries, exactly between the first half of the fifteenth and 1770. From then on, however, other families will participate in the domain of Cocconato, including the Avogadros, and the Appiani; in the eighteenth century, with the accounts of Cocconato out of play, intervene other houses: the Freylinos (or Freylin), Counts of Pino and Buttigliera, lords of Aramengo and Scotland, who divine in equal parts feudal rights, leaving only some minor parts to others. From Scotland the castle passes by inheritance to the Viani d'Ovrano and then to the de Rege di Donato.

Witness of the past stands out today the Castle. Placed on the top of the hill, around which the houses of the village hang. Although it dates back to the Middle Ages, perhaps to the 13th century, it was almost completely restored in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 20th century it underwent profound changes before being bound by the Fine Arts in 1944, and saw the collapse of the large circular tower that characterized it: today it presents itself in part plastered recently, therefore its overall appearance resembles little the type of medieval castles, at least regarding the facade southward.

The Parish of Madonna del Carmine is currently a neo-Gothic building erected in 1899 by Giuseppe Gallo on the site where the ancient church was built, restored between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Near it rises the elegant baroque bell tower of vittonian imprint, in terracotta at the top on a base mostly consisting of stone material.

The soil, rich in fossils was previously suitable for the extraction of lime, but today this activity has disappeared. Instead, agriculture is still practiced and provides in particular excellent wines (including Freisa and Malvasia) but also well-known cherries in the province.

Once olive cultivation was practiced; today only a few beautiful and lush specimens are located in well repaired points. According to the testimony of De Canis, in the work Choreography Astigiana, olive cultivation was quite widespread since the beginning of the 18th century; confirming the presence of an ancient oil mill in the castle enclosure.

Below is a table relating to the administrations that have succeeded one another in this municipality.