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