Carezzano
Welcome to Carezzano: a charming town in the Piedmont hills
Welcome to Carezzano, home to 434 inhabitants, located in the region of Piedmont in the province of Alessandria. This charming town is nestled in the hills to the right of the Scrivia river, and is composed of two separate villages with distinct identities: Carezzano Superiore and Inferiore.
The history of Carezzano
The name of the two villages stems from the combination of the two words in the ancient Ligurian language ''car'' (“hill”) and ''san'' (“place”), which means “place on the hill”. The upper village is believed to have been established before the lower village, which it yielded to eventually over time.
Carezzano Inferiore, or Maggiore, became the capital of the Bishopric of Tortona in the 15th century. Here, the Bishop had his court, his tribunal, his vicar, his prisons, and capital sentences were carried out, such as the one for the three women from the nearby Val Magra, who were burned for witchcraft in the summer of 1520.
Together with the church of Vezzano, Carezzano houses the famous convent built in the 15th century, of which the structures and the Romanesque bell tower are still intact today.
Families of origin in Carezzano
Among the families of origin in Carezzano are Sesto Canegallo, a famous divisionist and futurist painter, Ella Grasso, the first female governor of Connecticut, and Pietro Lorenzo Schiavi, who founded a charitable institution in his hometown to support the children of needy families.
Symbols of Carezzano
The coat of arms of the municipality of Carezzano was granted by the decree of the President of the Republic on February 27, 1958.
Society
The demographic evolution of Carezzano is constantly growing.
Administration
The following table shows the municipal administrations that have succeeded over time.
Notes and bibliography
The author Gian Carlo Vaccari has published two books on the history of Carezzano: "Carezzano, ancient capital of the Bishopric of Tortona" and "The witches of Val Magra, a 16th century trial in the Bishopric of Tortona".
