Saluzzo: The Marquisate Capital That Turin Overshadowed

There are cities that deserve the fame that belongs instead to others. Saluzzo, 57 kilometres from Cuneo, is one of them. It was the capital of an independent marquisate until 1601 — when Henry IV of France ceded it to Savoy — and those two centuries of autonomy left it a medieval old town of rare coherence: stone streets, fifteenth-century palaces, a Gothic cathedral and a view of the Cottian Alps that opens suddenly at every corner.

The Upper Town, Step by Step

The heart of Saluzzo is the upper town, reachable on foot from the centre through narrow cobbled lanes. The Castello della Manta, a few kilometres outside the city, houses some of the most important secular frescoes of the fifteenth century in Italy: the celebrated series of Heroes and Heroines, painted around 1420, is managed by FAI and open all year. Admission is 9 euros for adults. The castle pairs well with Saluzzo's old town for an unhurried day.

Silvio Pellico and Casa Cavassa

Saluzzo was the birthplace of Silvio Pellico, author of My Prisons, and of Giambattista Bodoni, the typographer who invented the font still in use today. Casa Cavassa, a late-Gothic fifteenth-century palace now converted into a civic museum, holds original furnishings and a Madonna della Misericordia by Hans Clemer, the Flemish painter known as the Master of Elva. The museum is open at weekends with admission at 5 euros.

Food and Logistics

The Saturday morning market in Piazza Montebello is the place to buy Farigliano cheeses, donkey salami and vegetables from the Saluzzo plain. Local cuisine offers risotto with finanziera, Barbera-braised beef and bunet for dessert. Saluzzo is comfortably reached by train from Torino Porta Nuova with a change at Fossano, or by car from the A6 motorway, Marene exit. Spring and autumn are ideal.