Cuneo

Cuneo is an Italian town of 56 072 inhabitants, the capital of the province of the same name. It has 2 nicknames: Capital of the Granda, due to the extension of the province (4th of Italy) and City of 7 sieges, for historical reasons. The city arose at the confluence of the Stura and Gesso streams, on a "cùneo" whose characteristic shape inspired its name. The most ancient nucleus, and historical center, is characterized by a checkerboard layout which, starting from the apex of the cùneo imaginary, runs along a median street that leads to a large square: Piazza Galimberti.

 

How to orient yourself

The city center is characterized by a checkerboard layout, along the median axis via Roma-corso Nizza. The city is divided into historical subdivisions, which are:
Historic Aulica Area: area between Corso Kennedy, Piazza Torino, Corso Papa Giovanni XXIII, Corso Garibaldi, Corso Soleri; inside there are the remains of an ancient plant prior to 1800, which gravitate above all around the central axis of Via Roma, and the remains between 1800 and 1900, found upstream of Via Roma and gravitating around Piazza Galimberti; this area is more commonly known as the Historic Center.
Historical - Environmental Central Area: area between Corso Soleri, Corso Garibaldi, Corso Marconi, Corso Solaro, Lungo Stura XXIV Maggio, Corso Giolitti, Corso Carlo Brunet; inside you can find the remains between 1900 and 1950.
Modernist Area: remaining area of the plateau and the hamlets, whose remains refer to the post-1950 period, excluding the Historical - Environmental portions of historical - documentary value inserted in the most recent fabric or otherwise qualified in relation to the urban and architectural characteristics of the environmental context, including also the tree-lined avenues, in particular viale Angeli, the Gesso and Stura River Park and the City Gates.

 

How to get here

By plane
Cuneo-Levaldigi Airport (IATA: CUF) is 19.6 km from Cuneo and is connected to the city by aerobus; from here national and international flights depart, the timetable of which can be consulted online.

Other airports are those of Turin-Caselle, Milan-Malpensa, Genoa "C. Colombo" and Nice Côte d'Azur.

By car
From Italy:
A21 Turin-Piacenza (Asti Est exit), then A33 Asti-Cuneo (Sant'Albano Stura exit).
A6 Turin-Savona, continuation on A33 Asti-Cuneo (exit Sant'Albano Stura).
A33 Asti-Cuneo (Cuneo exit).

From France:
Colle dell'Agnello (2,748 m - always closed in the winter months) which leads into the Varaita valley and leads to Saluzzo
Colle della Maddalena (1,996 m).
Colle della Lombarda (2,351 m - always closed in the winter months).
Colle di Tenda tunnel (1,300 m).

Once you reach the city, it is preferable to use the following car parks:
1 Sports facilities car park, Via Porta Mondovì. free. 500 seats available, panoramic lift to the city centre.
2 Underground car park in Piazza Boves, Corso Guglielmo Marconi. for a fee. 200 seats available.
3 Piazzale Porta Mondovì car park, Piazzale Porta Mondovì. free. 90 places available.
4 Parking in Piazzale Vecchia Stazione, Viale Vecchia Stazione. free. 85 places available.
5 Piazzale Italgas car park, North ring road. free. 95 places available.
6 Gas Descent Parking, Gas Descent. free. 60 places available.
7 Urban cemetery car park, Via del Fontanone. free. 200 places available, free shuttle to the city centre.
8 Descent Bellavista Parking, Descent Bellavista. free. 185 places available, free shuttle to the city centre.
9 Ex Heliport Car Park, Lungostura John Fitzgerald Kennedy. free. 168 seats available.
10 East-West Parking, Constitution Square. free. 315 seats available.

On boat
Cuneo cannot be reached by ship, except with integrated trips: ship+plane, ship+train, ship+bus, ship+car.

On the train
The city has two railway stations:
Cuneo station: Cuneo station is the main railway station of the city of Cuneo. It is located in Piazzale della Libertà, west of the town; was inaugurated on November 7, 1937.
Cuneo Gesso station: Cuneo Gesso station is the secondary railway station of the city of Cuneo. It is located to the east of the town, at a lower level than the Cuneo plateau; it was, until 1937, the first and only station in the city.
The Cuneo-Limone Piemonte-Ventimiglia line allows you to reach Cuneo from both Liguria and France, while the Cuneo-Turin line allows you to reach Cuneo from the regional capital.

By bus
Cuneo is connected with the localities of the Cuneo area and with other provincial capitals through numerous bus lines, managed by companies belonging to the Grandabus consortium.

 

Getting around

By public transport
The city is served by an efficient public transport system, such as buses, shuttles, lifts, managed by the Grandabus consortium, which allows, with numerous runs and lines, to reach the various areas of the city and the hamlets.
In the city center there is the Free Bus Area, an area where it is possible to use public transport by bus for free. Along the central axis, from Piazza Torino to Piazza Costituzione, and along Corso Giolitti, it is possible to get on and off the buses that pass along this route without presenting any ticket; stops and buses are marked with special panels (if you get on or off at stops outside the Free Bus Area, you must show your ticket or season ticket).

By taxi
Moving around the city is also possible by using the taxi service (tariffs), by calling +39 0171 692113.

 

Sights

Religious architecture

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Bosco
Monumental complex of San Francesco (Via Santa Maria nº10, now seat, together with the convent, of the Civic Museum)
Church of San Tomaso, called dei Tomasini, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception; formerly of the former Collegio S. Tomaso closed in 1937 and of the Jesuit Residence closed in 2021 (Jesuit Fathers)
Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Church of the Santissima Annunziata (currently closed for worship, no longer officiated)
San Sebastian Church
Church of Sant'Ambrogio
Church of Santa Chiara
Church of the Holy Cross
Church of Santa Maria della Pieve
Sanctuary of the Madonna della Riva (in Madonna dell'Olmo)
Sanctuary of Santa Maria degli Angeli
St Paul's Church
Church of San Pio X
Church of San Giovanni Bosco
former Church of San Giovanni decollato (today Sala San Giovanni, remains of the apse and bell tower, frescoes by Giovan Francesco Gaggini)
Synagogue of Cuneo

 

Fractional churches

Church of the Madonna dell'Olmo (fraction of Madonna dell'Olmo)
Church of San Rocco (fraction of San Rocco Castagnaretta)
Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (fraction of Roata Canale)
Parish Church of San Benigno (fraction of San Benigno)
Parish church of San Defendente (fraction of Confreria)
Parish Church of San Giovanni Battista (fraction of Passatore)
Parish Church of San Giuseppe (hamlet of Borgo San Giuseppe)
Parish church of San Grato (fraction of Tetti Pesio)
Parish church of San Lorenzo (fraction of Ronchi)
Parish church of San Matteo and Beata Vergine Addolorata (fraction of Bombonina)
Parish Church of Our Lady of Grace (fraction of Our Lady of Grace)
Church of the Nativity of Maria Santissima (fraction of Spinetta)
Chapel of Sant'Anna (fraction of Ronchi)
Chapel of St James
Chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie (towards Tarantasca)
Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary (Colombaro San Michele, Cerialdo)
Chapel of the Madonna della Crocetta (on the border with the municipality of Borgo San Dalmazzo)

 

Civil architectures

Palazzo Casa Galimberti (Piazza Galimberti nº6)
Palazzo del Municipio (current municipal residence) (Via Roma nº28)
Palace of the Court (Piazza Galimberti nº7)
Bishop's palace (Via Roma nº7)
Palace of the Bank of Italy (Corso Nizza nº3)
Palace of the Prefecture (Via Roma nº3)
Provincial Palace (Corso Nizza nº21)
Building of the railway station (Piazzale della Libertà nº10)
Palazzo della Torre with annexed civic tower (former municipal residence) (Via Roma nº19)
Palazzo Audiffredi (Via Cacciatori delle Alpi nº9)
Toselli Theater (Via Teatro Toselli nº9)
Financial Office Building PUF (Via Giovanni Battista Bongioanni nº 32) – about 50 meters high for 12 floors, it is considered the city's "skyscraper" and one of the tallest buildings in the city
Villa Oldofredi Tadini (Via Ercole Oldofredi Tadini nº19) – the building, inserted in the "Castelli Aperti" system of Lower Piedmont, was built between the 1300s and 1400s as an observation tower to defend the city. The villa, used as a museum, boasts a collection of relics and unique pieces collected over the centuries by the owners, the Mocchia di San Michele and Oldofredi Tadini families. The guided tour includes the chapel, with the relics of the Shroud of Turin, the rooms on the ground floor, some rooms on the second floor and the park.
Villa Tornaforte (Madonna dell'Olmo, Via Valle Po 1) - the former convent, part of the "Castelli Aperti" system of Lower Piedmont, was founded by the Augustinian friars in the 16th century. It became a patrician villa owned by Count Bruno di Tornaforte following the Napoleonic occupation.

 

Military architectures

Barracks "Cesare Battisti" (Via Cesare Battisti nº6)
"Gonzaga" Barracks (Corso Marcello Soleri nº7)

 

Streets and squares

The most characteristic and important streets of the city are:
Contrada Mondovì: very characteristic in the historical centre, narrow, with arcades
Corso Nizza: 1.5 km long street, commercial hub of the city. It should be noted that the course was named after Nice, an Italian city at the time
Via Roma: the main pedestrian artery of historic Cuneo, completely porticoed and with a characteristic curvilinear shape
Soleri viaduct
Viale degli Angeli: over 2 km long, of remarkable beauty (lined by numerous trees and gardens), it connects the city to the Sanctuary of the Madonna degli Angeli

There are also numerous city squares, among them:
Constitution Square: in the south of the city
Piazza Europa: located along Corso Nizza
Piazza Galimberti: note the architectural profile characterized by neoclassical buildings
Piazza Giuseppe Biancani: in the San Paolo district
Piazza Vincenzo Virginio: in the historic centre, near the monumental complex of San Francesco

Arcaded paths
The arcaded paths, of about 8 km, play an important role in the life of the city, because they connect the main streets to each other and allow walking, even on days with adverse weather conditions.

They are of great structural and compositional variety and, depending on their historical matrix, are divided into three types:

medieval, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century porticoes and the Baroque portico (Via Roma and historic centre)
19th century arcades (Piazza Galimberti)
post-war arcades (Corso Nizza and perpendicular)
Also noteworthy is the different height of the porticoes in via Roma, due to an incorrect and naive interpretation of the projects: "An initial error not due to the people of Cuneo. The latter having pledged to scrupulously respect the project of the great foreign architect to whom the task of the Council had been entrusted and having received, from the courier, the envelope containing the project, folded in half, they faithfully realized what they saw".

Overall, Cuneo is the fourth largest city in Italy for the length of its arcades, behind Bologna, Turin and Padua

 

Monuments

Monument to Giuseppe Barbaroux (Piazza Galimberti)
Monument to the confluence of the Stura river and the Gesso stream (Piazza Torino)
Monument to the Resistance (Parco della Resistenza), laid in 1969, by the sculptor Umberto Mastroianni

 

Natural areas

Youth Park
Resistance Park
Gesso and Stura River Park
Monviso Park
Garden Piazza della Libertà, in front of the railway station
Small park of the Chestnut
Dino Fresia Gardens
Don Cesare Stoppa Gardens
Lalla Romano Gardens
Villa Sarah Gardens

 

Events and festivals

Degustibus, Corso Nizza, ☎ +39 339 6505277, +39 335 5392494, fax: +39 0171 601 427, info@degustibus.cuneo.it. Second weekend of May - Friday: 12.00-24.00; Saturday: 10.00-24.00; Sunday: 10.00-23.00.
Feast of the Madonna del Carmine, historic centre, ☎ +39 0171 480 612, fax: +39 0171 601 427, arte@diocesicuneo.it. Month of July (Procession: second Monday of July).
The Fausto Coppi, Piazza Galimberti, ☎ +39 0171 693 258, +39 0171 697 456, fax: +39 0171 324 622, info@faustocoppi.net. Variables. Second Sunday of July: 9.00.
Great Summer Fair (GFE), Area M.I.A.C. (hamlet of Ronchi) (A33 Asti-Cuneo - Exit 'Cuneo Centro'), ☎ +39 0172 742 079, +39 0172 742 099, fax: +39 0172 743 775, eventi@alfiere.it. Whole: €6.50; Reduced: €5; Free: under 11. From the end of August to the beginning of September - Weekdays: 17.00-24.00; Saturday and Sunday: 10.00-24.00; last Sunday 10.00-21.00.
National Chestnut Fair, Historic center (in the city centre), ☎ +39 0171 690 217, fax: +39 0171 602 773, colta@cuneoholiday.com. Third weekend of October - Thursday: 17.00-23.00; Friday and Saturday: 10.00-23.00; Sunday: 10.00-21.00.
I am a man of the world (Gathering Men of the World), Piazza Galimberti, ☎ +39 0171 698 388, +39 0171 693 258, fax: +39 0171 698 388, +39 0171 693 258, info@uominidimondo.it. Third Sunday of October.
Stracôni, Piazza Galimberti (in the city center and in the river park), info@straconicard.it. €5.00. Second weekend of November - Sunday: 9.00.
Scrittorincittà, Corso Dante n° 41 - Various places (Headquarters: Meeting Center of the Province of Cuneo), ☏ +39 0171 444 822, fax: +39 0171 444 825, info@scrittorincitta.it. Variables. Third weekend of November.

 

Shopping

Not being tempted by some clothes or other objects in Cuneo is practically impossible: walking through the arcades of the city you will come across many shops with well decorated shop windows.

 

Where stay

Average prices
1 Cristal, Via della Magnina, 3/A, ☎ +39 0171 412623, fax: +39 0171 426985, info@cristalhotel.cn.it. Single €59.00/100.00, Double €69.00/120.00.
2 Cuneo Hotel, Via Vittorio Amedeo II, 2, ☎ +39 0171 681960, info@cuneohotel.com. Single €60.00/80.00, Double €80.00/120.00.
3 Fiamma, Via Antonio Meucci, 36, ☎ +39 0171 66652, fax: +39 0171 66651, hotelfiamma@gmail.com. Single €75.00, Double €95.00.
4 Ligure, Via Savigliano, 11, ☎ +39 0171 634545, fax: +39 0171 634545, info@ligurehotel.com. Single €55.00/65.00, Double €70.00/85.00.
5 Palazzo Lovera, via Roma, 37, ☎ +39 0171 690420, fax: +39 0171 603435, info@palazzolovera.com. Double €125.00/220.00.
6 Principe, Piazza Galimberti, 5, ☎ +39 0171 693355, fax: +39 0171 67562, info@hotel-principe.it. Single €80.00/135.00, Double €105.00/200.00.
7 Royal Superga, Via Pascal, 3, ☎ +39 0171 693223, fax: +39 0171 699101, info@hotelroyalsuperga.com. Single €62.00/99.00, Double €89.00/149.00.
8 Torrismondi, Via Michele Coppino, 33, ☎ +39 0171 443200, fax: +39 0171 443267, info@hoteltorrismondi.191.it. Single €50.00/80.00, Double €68.00/103.00.

 

Territory

The territory of Cuneo is located on the south-western plateau of Piedmont, in a central position with respect to the Alps, towards the south-west, open on the Po Valley to the north-east, a few tens of kilometers from the hills of the Langhe and about 70 km, as the crow flies, from the Mediterranean Sea.

The presence of the streams has allowed the creation of a large city river park, called the Gesso and Stura River Park.

 

Climate

Cuneo has a temperate sub-continental climate, with cold winters, hot and muggy summers. However, it is located at over 500 meters above sea level, which contributes to making summers more bearable, thanks to the ventilation: the hottest month, July, has an average temperature of +21.6 ° C. The coldest, January, has an average of +2.6 ° C. The average annual temperature is around 12.3 ° C.

The annual rainfall amounts to an average of about 950 millimeters, distributed over 81 days. The rainfall regime is very similar to that of Turin, with 2 maximums (one, main, in spring; one, secondary, in autumn) and 2 minimums (summer and winter).

The driest month is July (44 mm), as Cuneo is located in the south of Piedmont, it is less exposed to the tails of summer Atlantic perturbations, harbingers of thunderstorms.

Snowfalls are frequent: not only because of the altitude, but also because of the frequent "stau" effect of the bora currents. Cuneo is the snowiest provincial capital in Italy.
There are on average about 20 days a year of fog (rarely of strong intensity); the wind has an average of 2.2 m / s; the city is subject to breeze.

Cuneo is not particularly humid, even if in the summer the monthly averages sometimes go over 80% relative humidity.

The average annual duration of the day is 12 hours and 23 minutes.

According to the classification of W. Köppen, Cuneo belongs to the climatic zone "Cfb" (according to the data of the thirty years '61 -'90).

 

History

The foundation

Little or nothing is known of the antiquity of Cuneo, which is located in a strategically important area due to its dominant and healthy position, on a plateau located at the confluence of two watercourses, the Gesso torrent and the Stura di Demonte river.

Roman finds in the historic center area ("Contrada Mondovì") suggest the presence of a large villa dating back to imperial Rome; nor can it be excluded that the city of Auriate arose right on the "cùneo", of which only sporadic information remains (seat of an episcopate and of a Carolingian county, probably destroyed by an Arab incursion).

Cuneo is supposed to have hosted a colony of Milanese refugees, in the days when the city of Sant'Ambrogio suffered the wrath of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (known as Frederick Barbarossa), when the great city was partially destroyed.

The historical documentation begins at the end of the 12th century: in the year 1198 Cuneo established itself as a free municipality, i.e. a village free from marquis interference, a pole of attraction for the neighboring populations, subject to the typical feudal bonds of the time.

Since the Lombard era, the territory was under the jurisdiction of the abbey of San Dalmazzo di Pedona which then later depended on the bishop of Asti. For at least a couple of centuries, the Abstine diocese incorporated the ancient territory of the Bagenni (Ligurian tribe), already an important Roman municipality, with its center in Augusta Bagiennorum, close to the current town of Bene Vagienna (in the locality of Roncaglia).

The territory probably belonged to the destroyed city of Auriate, including the area of Bredolo, the Monregalese.

The course of the Stura marked not only the border between the dioceses of Asti and Turin, but also the border between Liguria and Western or Upper Lombardy.

Legend has it that the populations of nearby villages (Quaranta and Brusaporcello), tired of the harassment of the Marquises of Monferrato and Saluzzo, had taken refuge on the "Pizzo di Cuneo" (well sheltered from the two streams) where, probably, a community of Milanese fugitives, and founded the village, with the protection of the abbot of the monastery of San Dalmazzo and the bishop of Asti, declaring it a free municipality; a not isolated situation, since contemporary, or slightly later, are the free municipalities of Monte Vico (Mondovì) and Savigliano.

As if to confirm an opposition - not only in fact, also in principle - to the power of the feudal lords, three rectors were placed at the head of the new village: two nobles and one of the people. It was 23 June 1198, the eve of Saint John the Baptist, with bonfires burning on the heights and near the gates of the village, when the people of Cuneo acclaimed its first three rectors: Pipinus de Vignolio, the Lombard Peyre Rogna and Berardus de Valgrana .

The war with the marquises of Saluzzo
In 1204 the marquises of Saluzzo declared war on Asti and Cuneo, to eliminate Asti's main allies; in 1206 the marquis Manfredo II of Saluzzo had to submit to Asti and forbade the inhabitants of Villafalletto, Costigliole, Centallo and Romanisio to move to Cuneo without his permission, to avoid the depopulation of the villages of the marquisate.

From 1202 in Cuneo a mayoral regime begins.

In 1204 the marquises of Saluzzo, Monferrato, Busca, Ceva, del Carretto and Clavesana allied themselves with Alba and declared war on Asti and Cuneo.

In 1206 Manfred II of Saluzzo surrendered.

In 1210 the Marquis of Saluzzo Manfredo II and Guglielmo of Monferrato interrupted the autonomy of the municipality, occupying it with arms; it appears that Cuneo had lost the favor of the bishop of Asti.

There are documents in the city of Toulouse, pertinent to the inquisition against the Cathars (which devastated, precisely in those years, the rich Languedoc, with a violent crusade by the Franks of the north on precise papal exhortation) in which Cuneo is suspected of offering hospitality to the fleeing Albigensians, for this reason it is defined as bourg tournant or "revolving village", a place that opened its doors to homeless heretics and assisted them, to introduce them into the Po Valley.

Very serious accusation: he could have legitimized and justified the intervention of the Marquis of Saluzzo, who couldn't wait to remove that thorn from his side.

 

Independence, Cuneo becomes a free municipality

In 1230 Cuneo allied itself with Borgo San Dalmazzo and Savigliano; the Milanese Oberto de Ozeno freed Cuneo, fortified it and became mayor, but was killed in battle.

To take revenge for Oberto's death, Milan declares war on the Marquis of Monferrato, from whom the city of Chivasso will be taken away.

The history of Cuneo as a free municipality lasted about 30 years; this period was characterized by numerous alliances: up to 1237 with Milan, from 1238 to 1250 with Federico II, from 1251 to 1258 with Alba and Asti.

The occupation was short-lived. Ten years later the municipality rose again, probably with the help of the Milanese; in 1238 Federico II recognized their freedom to the people of Cuneo.

In 1251 the mayor was joined by a judge and a miles, paid 150 lire.

Cuneo was also governed by the municipal council, composed of a variable number of people.

In 1259 the autonomous life of the municipality ceased, which had extended its authority in the valleys which, radially, converged on the plateau between the 2 streams, as well as on the nearby valleys of the Grana and the Maira (colliding with the powerful monastery of San Dalmazzo) .

 

Submission to Charles of Anjou

In 1260 the alliance with Charles of Anjou, future king of Naples, but still count of Provence, ended up resulting in a dedication that seemed convenient for the people of Cuneo and Provençal.

In 1306 the mint of the kingdom of Naples moved to Cuneo. In this way, with Alba, Cuneo became the main center of the Angevin domains in Piedmont; just then the name "Piedmont" appeared for the first time, indicating the Provençal domains at the foot of the mountains, once the Alpine hills had been passed.

Cuneo was the capital of a district that reached the Stura, Gesso, Grana, Vermenagna valleys; it enjoyed its own statute, boasted significant tax and commercial exemptions, minted its own currency.

In a seal of the municipality of Cuneo from 1379, kept in the historical archive of Turin, the insignia of the Angiò stand out (the three horizontal red bands on a white field) with the legend: "Notum sit contis: Conium caput est Pedemontis" (" Cuneo is the capital of Piedmont". In 1309 Charles II of Naples dies, all the nobles of the kingdom of Naples meet in Cuneo to swear loyalty to Robert of Naples.

Throughout the 1200s in Cuneo there was probably a Templar mansion, attested by the toponym Spinetta and, above all, by a document of 1200, third indiction, day 12 May, 2 years after the constitution as a free municipality. It concerns the alienation of real estate by Ugone, abbot of the monastery of San Dalmazzo al Borgo, from a certain "messer Ursio", for the amount of 200 abstention lire: these properties bordered, on one side, with a via comunis, on two sides with properties that belonged to the abbey and on the fourth side with the domus fratrum de Templo de Cuneo (from I Tempieri negli antica Stati del Regno di Sardegna by the knight Ferrero di Ponsiglione). In Spinetta the toponym of "Torre dei Frati" still exists (according to many French historians, mainly Louis Charpentier, the toponyms concerning the rose or the thorn, such as Epinay, Epine, Epinal, Epinac, Pinay, are probably of Templar derivation).

In Cuneo there were two very ancient hospitals: the first, "hospitale della Santa Croce", may have originally belonged to the Templars; the "hospitale di San Giovanni Battista" was run by the Hospitallers, also known as the Knights of St. John and, later, the Knights of Malta.

Cuneo as the Angevin capital of "Provençal Piedmont" prospered, with ups and downs, for more than 100 years. The link with the Angevins was interrupted on several occasions: between 1281 and 1305 Cuneo was subjected to the Marquis of Saluzzo; between 1347 and 1348 it passed, for the first time, under the dominion of the counts of Savoy, then it was subject to the authority of the Visconti (1348-1356) who seemed about to become king of Upper Italy; then, once again, it returned to be part of the marquisate of Saluzzo (1356) to be once again subject to the Visconti (1366-1372).

At the time Cuneo was an open, commercial village, with loggias of Venetian, Pisan, Genoese, Lombard, Provençal and Catalan merchants (an important commercial center on the Lombardy-Provence-Catalonia axis or, if you prefer, Milan-Marseille- Barcelona); it seems that the locality of Sant'Antonio Aradolo, at the entrance to the Valle Gesso - which led to Colle delle Finestre, where an ancient Roman road passed - was originally a Catalan trading station.

 

Submission to the Savoy

The Angevin season ended in 1382, with the submission of the people of Cuneo to the Savoys. It was an exchange agreed between Queen Giovanna d'Angiò, eager to repossess the kingdom of Naples, and Amedeo VI of Savoy, known as the Conte Verde, lord of Savoy and count of Aosta and Moriana, from 1343 to 1383. The Count he assured her of his military support and, in exchange, obtained the Provençal domains at the foot of the mountains (the 'Piedmont' of the origins), an undertaking that cost him his life, as he died of the plague, while supporting the cause of Louis of Anjou in Southern Italy, after the death of Queen Giovanna.

With the passage of the city to the Savoys, a new period began which saw the gradual insertion of the municipality into the Savoy state, which was growing and definitively forming.

Thus it was that Cuneo was transformed from an open and commercial city into a closed and military city; it also shrank urbanistically, transforming itself into a village-fortress, on the north-south axis, Savoie-Nizzardo - or, if you prefer, Chambéry-Turin-Nice - a containment belt for French expansionism towards the Po Valley, which manifested itself at the end of the war of the 100 years with England and continued in the following centuries, up to the Napoleonic campaigns.

This transformation took place in the two centuries that went from the transfer to the Savoy, at the time of the Conte Verde (1382), until the death of Emanuele Filiberto (1580).

 

Sieges of Cuneo

This period is characterized by a long series of sieges to which the city was subjected.

In 1515, the people of Cuneo managed to keep the Swiss, allies of the Holy Roman Empire, away from their walls while awaiting the arrival of the French king, Francis I.

In 1542 it was the turn of Claude d'Annebault, with his 18,000 Frenchmen, who was forced to retreat.

In 1557, under the command of Count Carlo Manfredi Luserna d'Angrogna, Cuneo victoriously withstood one of the toughest sieges in its history: from May to 27 June, managing to resist the preponderant forces of the marshal of Brissac; this fact saved the State of Emanuele Filiberto; the latter, gratefully, granted Cuneo the title of city, with a diploma dated 1559, and the faculty of inserting the coat of arms of the Savoy family on the municipal coat of arms.

In 1639 and '41 it was the troops of Madama Reale who laid siege to the city.

In 1691 the soldiers of the French general Nicolas de Catinat were defeated after a severe siege.

In 1744 the Franco-Spaniards clashed with the walls of Cuneo (War of the Austrian Succession); after passing the fort of Demonte, the Franco-Spanish troops arrived in front of the fortified city, ready to support a difficult siege; in those years the governor of the city was Baron Federico Leutrum (to be exact, Baron Karl Sigmund Friedrich Wilhelm von Leutrum) whom the people of Cuneo familiarly called "Barùn Litrùn"; a gentleman of Saxon origin, Lutheran, whom King Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy (known by the nickname of 'Carlin') had commissioned to defend the city, given his vast experience in the military field; the baron fulfilled his task admirably and remained in Cuneo, trying to renew it with building initiatives, until his death, on the occasion of which the famous ballad of "Barùn Litrùn" was composed, which had vast success in Piedmont, for a couple of centuries.

The siege began on 15 September 1744, with the arrival of the first bomb against the walls of Cuneo; the people of Cuneo responded with such enthusiasm as to silence the enemies for more than two days. The fighting continued for a long time, with the Gallo-Hispanics destroying bell towers and chimneys and the Piedmontese doing everything to expel them, motivated by Baron Federico Leutrum, who loved what he already called his city very much. On 29 September the King arrived from Saluzzo with 25,000 men (out of 40,000 of the entire Savoy army) to assist the 4,089 soldiers defending Cuneo. The army lined up in Madonna dell'Olmo and there, on 30 September, it fought a great battle against the enemies, who emerged victorious but greatly weakened. The following 21 days of siege were much easier and on 11 October the Franco-Spanish council of war (composed of the Prince of Conti for the French and the Marquis de La Mina for the Spanish, under the general command of the Infante of Spain Don Luigi di Borbone), decided that, in the following nights, the retreat would take place. On October 21, the siege was declared over.

 

Napoleonic occupation

With the Napoleonic occupation, the last phase of the history of Cuneo begins. The young general Napoleon, twenty-seven years old at the time, took Cuneo without needing to besiege the city, due to the general disbandment of the Savoy army, albeit substantially intact, after the battles of Montenotte, Dego, Cosseria and San Michele di Mondovì.

The last siege that Cuneo supported was that of 1799, when the Austro-Russian army drove the French away from the city, but only for a few months since, the following year, the definitive victory at Marengo ensured Napoleon total control of the Northern Italy.

In the Napoleonic period the city, annexed to the French Empire, became the capital of the Stura department which anticipated, half a century earlier and almost in its exact dimensions (the ancient province of Ceva with the upper Tanaro valley and the High Langhe were annexed to the department of Montenotte with capital Savona), the definitive province of Cuneo, created with the law of 1859.

Upon the restoration, in 1817, Cuneo also had its own diocese and during the Risorgimento it baptized the Cacciatori delle Alpi, Garibaldi's volunteers.

 

Resistence

From 1943 to 1945 Cuneo was, with its valleys, one of the major centers of the Resistance (the Cuneense Division left for Russia from Cuneo).
The city was liberated by partisans on April 28, 1945.

 

Culture

Education

Libraries

The city of Cuneo has 17 libraries on its territory. In order to bring them together and make them known, Biblioincittà was created, the city network made up of libraries in the area, created to facilitate and direct readers in their research.

The libraries in Cuneo participating in Biblioincittà are:
The Alliance Française Library preserves a wealth of literary and non-fiction texts and various educational texts aimed at teaching the French language.
Library of the APICE association: deals with bibliographic material dedicated to the European Union, with 1500 volumes divided.
Children's and teenagers' library which collects bibliographic material dedicated to readers aged 0 to 14.
Library of the Italian Alpine Club A. Borsi preserves the bibliographic material dedicated to mountaineering and the mountains in general.
Library of the Chamber of Commerce: deals with bibliographic material including monographs and periodicals of an economic and historical-economic nature and the bibliographic fund of the Bank of Italy, acquired by the Cuneo branch.
Library of the sports documentation center at the CONI provincial center.
Library of the study center of the Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo foundation.
Cuneo Civic Library: in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Audiffredi, in the historic center of the city, it is the oldest civic library in Piedmont; the first documents relating to its institution date back to 1802, with opening in 1803, when Cuneo, under French domination, was the capital of the Stura Department. It holds approximately 300,000 volumes, records more than 100,000 loans per year and is a legal deposit site (ex law 106/2004), and is also the network center of the Cuneo library system.
Cuneo Sud children's library at the Cuneo 2 shopping centre, intended for readers aged 0 to 14.
Library of the G. F. Ghedini Conservatory.
Diocesan library: at the episcopal seminary.
Library of the Historical Institute of the Resistance: at the territorial documentation centre, it deals with bibliographic material dedicated to contemporary history.
Library of the Casa Galimberti Museum established by the Galimberti family since the end of the nineteenth century.
Library of the Monumental Complex of San Francesco: deals with bibliographic material dedicated to cultural heritage.
Library of the adolescent project: at the territorial documentation centre, it deals with bibliographic material dedicated to children aged 14 to 18.
Cuneo university library: deals with bibliographic material dedicated to the subjects covered by the study courses offered by the city branch of the University of Turin (Law, Political Science and Economics).
"Davide Cavaglion" Library: deals with bibliographic material on the history of the Piedmontese Jewish communities.

 

Research

Territorial Documentation Center: houses a reading room and newspaper library, the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Cuneo, the collection and exhibition of the mathematician Giuseppe Peano, the Adolescent Project Library and the Historical Institute of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Province of Cuneo and preserves the publications of the Legal Deposit of the Civic Library of Cuneo (Law 106/2004).
Historical Institute of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Province of Cuneo: established by prefectural decree of 14 April 1964 and recently named after Dante Livio Bianco, it preserves the memory of the Resistance and promotes the study of contemporary history using a library open to the public, an archive, a specialized video library and a rich newspaper library, including important national and foreign historical magazines, freely consultable in the reading room of the Territorial Documentation Center and also publishes the six-monthly magazine "Il presente e la storia".

 

Schools

In the territory of the municipality of Cuneo there are 10 state nursery schools, 13 private private nursery schools, 18 state primary schools, one private private primary school, 6 state lower secondary schools, one private lower secondary school. , 11 state secondary schools and 5 vocational training institutes, one of which is municipal.

 

University

Cuneo is a branch of the University of Turin.

The city is also home to the Giorgio Federico Ghedini Conservatory, the Academy of Fine Arts and the "A. Macagno" University Institute for Linguistic Mediators.

 

Museums

Casa Galimberti Museum: located on the west side of Piazza Galimberti, on the second floor of Palazzo Osasco (Piazza Galimberti nº6), it displays objects, documents, family memories in the house and study that belonged to the Galimberti family. In particular, it contains a library of approximately 20,000 volumes, magazines and brochures mainly belonging to the 19th and early 20th centuries on legal, literary, scientific and artistic topics. The rooms also house several works of art by various painters.
Civic Museum: based in the monumental complex of San Francesco, it has a route that starts from the most ancient testimonies of prehistory to reach those of the modern age, telling the visitor the history of the area. It houses a rich specialist library, updated on all topics relating to cultural heritage, topographical, cartographic and photographic archives, including the Vacchetta Fund and the Scoffone Fund.
Diocesan Museum of San Sebastiano: based in the monumental complex of San Sebastiano, it has an itinerary focused almost entirely on the works and liturgical furnishings pertaining to the monumental complex of San Sebastiano, retracing the history of the diocese and the territory from the ancient medieval dedication to St. James to the present day.
Railway museum: set up in the Cuneo railway station, it is partly inside and partly outside. In the Royal Hall, i.e. the waiting room of the royal family, there are noticeboards displaying posters, photos and vintage newspapers relating to the passage of the royal family's train through the station, on a reserved platform. There are also displays of various types of caps used by railway workers from the 1920s to the present, a series of tickets, licenses and travel cards, a wooden ticket office from the 1920s, lanterns, various telephones, shovels and whistles. Outside there is a wagon, built in 1943 by Piaggio in Genoa, containing documents regarding the Cuneo-Nice railway line, built in the 20th century; finally, in the depot there is a three-phase locomotive.