San Carlo Canavese
Welcome to San Carlo Canavese!
Hello everyone! Today we'll be talking about a small municipality in the metropolitan city of Turin called San Carlo Canavese. With its 3,985 inhabitants, it is a peaceful and charming place located about 20-25 kilometers northwest of Turin. The history of this municipality is very interesting and has distant roots, but let's discover more about it.
Physical Geography
The territory of San Carlo Canavese is predominantly hilly and extends over a relief called "la Vauda," which derives from the ancient German word "wald," meaning forest. This relief is what remains of the left moraine of the debris cone of the Stura di Lanzo glacier. The area is crossed by three important watercourses such as the Bendola, Fisca, and Malone (stream). A curiosity: did you know that almost half of the territory of San Carlo Canavese is restricted as a military area? The use by the army has lasted for about 170 years, but today, the entire military territory and the Rio Valmaggiore valley fall within the Vauda Oriented Nature Reserve.
History
The territory of San Carlo Canavese has a very interesting history. The first evidence of the territory dates back to the 11th century when the first houses and fortifications were built between Vauda and the Banna stream. It was during this period that the church of Santa Maria di Spinerano was built, a small treasure of the municipality. In 1417, Ciriè purchased the "Vauda Grande" from Lodovico Mayneri, also from Ciriè, for 25 gold florins, and an important moment for the development of the lower part of the territory was the construction of the "bealera" in 1485, a canal for irrigation derived from the Stura di Lanzo.
Only at the beginning of the seventeenth century did the first buildings appear on the upper part of the town, which constituted the nuclei of the villages Massa, Tempo, Canavera, Sopetto, Perino, and Fornero. In 1621, the church dedicated to San Carlo Borromeo, the patron saint of the municipality, was built. It was only in 1684 that San Carlo obtained administrative autonomy by detached from the Marquisate of Ciriè, paying a "ransom" of 6,000 Piedmontese lire. In 1827, in response to a request from the population, King Charles Albert of Savoy allowed changing the name of the town from 'Vauda di Ciriè' to San Carlo.
Even during the Fascist period, the history of San Carlo Canavese was interesting. The small municipalities were merged into larger municipalities, and so, with R.D. of 24/11/1927 n. 2277, Victor Emmanuel III ordered the union of the Municipality with Ciriè, under the name San Carlo di Ciriè.
Closure
Thus, San Carlo Canavese, with its millenary history and natural beauty, absolutely deserves a visit. The municipality has an incredible wealth of history and art, with numerous churches that preserve precious treasures and an uncontaminated flora and fauna in the Vauda Oriented Nature Reserve. I hope I have piqued your curiosity and see you soon here in San Carlo Canavese. Until next time!
