Casa Fornace, Cascina Budigiai,Castellar, Colombaro Rossi, La Creusa, La Stella, Le Prese, Regione Liona, Regione Paschere, Revalanca, Ruata Eandi, Ruata Re, San Bernardino, Sant'Ugo, Torrazza
The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are found in the surrounding mountains. On 1 January 2017 it had a population of 17.581
Saluzzo (Salusse inPiedmontese) was acivitas (tribal city state) of the Vagienni, or mountainLigures, and later of theSalluvii. This district was brought under Roman control by the ConsulMarcus Fulviusc. 125 BC.
In theCarolingian age it became the residence of acount; later, having passed to the Marquesses ofSusa,Manfred I, son of Marquess Bonifacio del Vasto, on the division of that principality became Marquess of Saluzzo; this family held the marquisate of Saluzzo from 1142 to 1548. The marquisate embraced the territory lying between the Alps, the Po and the Stura, and was extended on several occasions. In the Middle Ages it had a chequered existence, often being in conflict with powerful neighbours, chiefly the Counts (later Dukes) of Savoy. AfterManfred II's death, his widow had to accept a series of tributes, which were to be later the base of theHouse of Savoy's claims over the increasingly feebler marquises' territories.Thomas III, a vassal of France, wrote the romanceLe chevalier errant ('the knight-errant').
Ludovico I (1416–75) started the Golden Age of the city and imposed himself as a mediator between the neighbouring powers.Ludovico II constructed atunnel, no longer in use, through theMonviso, a remarkable work for the time. With the help of the French he resisted a vigorous siege by the Duke of Savoy in 1486, but in 1487 yielded and retired to France where he wroteL'art de la chevalerie sous Vegèce ("The art of chivalry under Vegetius", 1488), a treatise on good government, and other works on military affairs. He was apatron of clerics and authors. In 1490 Ludovico regained power, but after his death, his sons struggled longly for the rule and impoverished the state.
After long struggles for independence, the marquisate was occupied (1548) by the French, as a fief of the Crown ofFrance – with the name ofSaluces – and remained part of that kingdom until it was ceded toSavoy in 1601. In 1588Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy took possession of the city. Thenceforward Saluzzo shared the destinies of Piedmont, with which it formed "one of the keys of the house" of Italy.
The municipality of Saluzzo absorbed at the beginning of 2019 the neighbouring commune ofCastellar, thus enforcing the results of a referendum held in the summer of 2018.[4]
TheCathedral of Saluzzo [it], also known as the Cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary of the Assumption, stands out for itsLate-Gothic forms; built outside the walls just beyond Porta Santa Maria between 1491 and 1501, it was a bishop's seat starting from 1511. The façade is in exposed brick, adorned by three portals surmounted by terracotta gables that house statues of the apostles (central portal), while above the side there are the patron San Chiaffredo and San Costanzo. The interior has a covering made up of cross vaults, while the Baroque high altar with its large impact is of great impact eleven wooden statues byCarlo Giuseppe Plura and collaborators. In the central nave, you can admire a precious fourteenth-century wooden crucifix. To the left of the main altar is the Chapel of the SS. Sacramento, with a polyptych by the Flemish artist of French originHans Clemer, better known as Maestro d'Elva.
The French name of Saluces was given to the city during the period of French domination. There are many traces of this francization still today as on the pediment of the casa cavassa today transformed into a museum where you can read the motto "right whatever it is."
Cathedral of Saluzzo [it] (1491–1501): Church was built in Lombard-Gothic style. The façade is decorated with rose-windows, frescoes (almost totally faded) and statues. The interior contains a magnificent Baroque high altar, plus a 16th-century terracotta group portraying theDeposition, adAdoration of the Shepherds bySebastiano Ricci.
San Bernardo church formerly belonging to the Conventuals, has interesting tombs of the counts della Torre.
San Giovanni: Dominican church begun in 1330 in Gothic style and completed in 1504 withBramantesque influences. The façade isGothic. The apse, from 1504, houses a Funerary Chapel of Ludovico II, work byAntoine Le Moiturier (1425–74) covered with green stone and characterized by an elegant play of arches and sculptures. The sepulchre of Ludovico II is a Renaissance work byBenedetto Briosco. Annexed are the Gothic cloister and the Capitular Hall with the Mausoleum of a vicar-general of the marquisate, Galeazzo Cavassa di Carmagnola, a Renaissance work byMatteo Sanmicheli.
Casa Cavassa: site of the civic museum and rebuilt with a Renaissance interior.
San Agostino andSan Bernardino
Town Hall is the formerJesuit College, while the older one (1462), with a bold tower, is utilized by the Court of Assizes. The 16th centuryVilla Belvedere has elegant rooms with late-Renaissance decorations.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Saluzzo".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
L'Italia da scoprire, Guide di Bell'Italia, ed. Giorgio Mondadori, 2006
