History
Ceresole d'Alba is a town of 2,088 inhabitants in the province of Cuneo, in Piedmont. The municipality is part of the geographical delimitation of the Roero, that is, of the territory of 22 municipalities located on the hydrographic left of the Tanaro river. Ceresole d'Alba is the municipality located further north in the province of Cuneo.
THE HISTORY OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CERESOLE D'ALBA
The first evidence of human presence in the Ceresolese territory dates back directly to prehistory; on the other hand, the toponymic links to the Roman age are scarce.
Ceresole enters history in 1041, confirmed by Emperor Henry III to the Bishop of Asti. Part of the territory - the "grange del Bosco" - Current farm Grangia - has possession of the abbey of Casanova.
With the beginning of the thirteenth century, it was inspired by the bishop to the consignors "de Montaldo" and to those "de Anterixio". After the middle of the thirteenth century the Tebaudo and Berruto di Ceresole (of the "de Anterixio") began selling their fiefdoms: in 1252 they gave credit to the accounts of Biandrate, Anterisio and Desaya; two years later they sold their part of Ceresole to Asti and were reinvested; in 1256, perhaps forced, they sell the credit they have towards the Biandrates in Asti.
After the defeat of the Biandrates in 1290, half of Ceresole is temporarily infeuded by the Marquis of Ceva, but in 1304 the Biandrates are readmitted, with vassalage agreements towards Asti, in their previous fiefdoms, including Ceresole, for which they pay homage in 1312 to the Acaja, receiving investiture in 1314.
The Roero family made their feudal entry into Ceresole and Palermo in 1374, by purchase from Asti Viscontea; in 1468, after several steps inside the family, it reaches Filippo, founder of the first branch of the Roero di Ceresole.
With the wars of the fifteenth century, the territory of Ceresole became an encampment and battlefield for the French and the imperials: from a terrible battle of 1544 on the Gerbola and Monbelletto plateau, it brought destruction between the imperial ranks and in the village.
THE HISTORY OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CERESOLE D'ALBA
The first evidence of human presence in the Ceresolese territory dates back directly to prehistory; on the other hand, the toponymic links to the Roman age are scarce.
Ceresole enters history in 1041, confirmed by Emperor Henry III to the Bishop of Asti. Part of the territory - the "grange del Bosco" - Current farm Grangia - has possession of the abbey of Casanova.
With the beginning of the thirteenth century, it was inspired by the bishop to the consignors "de Montaldo" and to those "de Anterixio". After the middle of the thirteenth century the Tebaudo and Berruto di Ceresole (of the "de Anterixio") began selling their fiefdoms: in 1252 they gave credit to the accounts of Biandrate, Anterisio and Desaya; two years later they sold their part of Ceresole to Asti and were reinvested; in 1256, perhaps forced, they sell the credit they have towards the Biandrates in Asti.
After the defeat of the Biandrates in 1290, half of Ceresole is temporarily infeuded by the Marquis of Ceva, but in 1304 the Biandrates are readmitted, with vassalage agreements towards Asti, in their previous fiefdoms, including Ceresole, for which they pay homage in 1312 to the Acaja, receiving investiture in 1314.
The Roero family made their feudal entry into Ceresole and Palermo in 1374, by purchase from Asti Viscontea; in 1468, after several steps inside the family, it reaches Filippo, founder of the first branch of the Roero di Ceresole.
With the wars of the fifteenth century, the territory of Ceresole became an encampment and battlefield for the French and the imperials: from a terrible battle of 1544 on the Gerbola and Monbelletto plateau, it brought destruction between the imperial ranks and in the village.
THE BATTLE OF CERESOLE D’ALBA: APRIL 14, 1544 (Brief summary by Prof. Alberto Lusso
The battle of Ceresole is the last direct clash in Italy between Francesco I and Carlo V. It is notoriously associated with the battle of Marignano (1515), not so much for the proportions and consequences, but for the fact that it is the "battle of the giants »(Marignano) and the battle of Ceresole are clashes in which the French winners; they are also the two battles won by Francesco I who redeem the defeats of Bicocca (1522) and Pavia (1525). Francis I will then be the winner, and the celebration of this victory will find wide visibility on the tomb of the admired sovereign. The parallelism with the victory of Marignano is in fact witnessed in the church of Saint-Denis, in Paris: on the funeral monument of Francis I, in the various bas-reliefs that decorate the base of the imposing mausoleum, the refined French artist Pierre Bontemps will sculpt both battles. From this moment the battle of Marignano (1515) and that of Ceresole (1544) will thus be inextricably united and Ceresole d'Alba will thus acquire a prominent place among the symbols that allude to the merits of the French sovereign. The history of the battle is however important, above all because in the Renaissance wars it represents a direct and imposing clash between two armies. In fact, this is not a simple skirmish or an attrition intervention aimed at exhausting the opposing forces, but a real battle, with considerable deployment of forces and a very high number of deaths in a single day (not to mention the devastation of the country and damage to the population).
ORIGIN OF THE CLASH AND CONQUER OF CARIGNANO
The clash arises from the attempt by Francis I and Charles V to prevail in the Italian states: both have as their objective the possession of strongholds that must guarantee the security of the cities acquired and the hegemony over the surrounding territory within an area more or less extensive. The defense of the besieged in the city of Carignano becomes crucial for the Imperials to maintain possessions to the left of the Po, in the middle of the French strongholds; while for the French it is essential to prevent the reunification of the Imperials (who from Asti try to bring relief to Carignano), which could endanger the balance in the areas conquered in Piedmont.
The battle of Ceresole is the last direct clash in Italy between Francesco I and Carlo V. It is notoriously associated with the battle of Marignano (1515), not so much for the proportions and consequences, but for the fact that it is the "battle of the giants »(Marignano) and the battle of Ceresole are clashes in which the French winners; they are also the two battles won by Francesco I who redeem the defeats of Bicocca (1522) and Pavia (1525). Francis I will then be the winner, and the celebration of this victory will find wide visibility on the tomb of the admired sovereign. The parallelism with the victory of Marignano is in fact witnessed in the church of Saint-Denis, in Paris: on the funeral monument of Francis I, in the various bas-reliefs that decorate the base of the imposing mausoleum, the refined French artist Pierre Bontemps will sculpt both battles. From this moment the battle of Marignano (1515) and that of Ceresole (1544) will thus be inextricably united and Ceresole d'Alba will thus acquire a prominent place among the symbols that allude to the merits of the French sovereign. The history of the battle is however important, above all because in the Renaissance wars it represents a direct and imposing clash between two armies. In fact, this is not a simple skirmish or an attrition intervention aimed at exhausting the opposing forces, but a real battle, with considerable deployment of forces and a very high number of deaths in a single day (not to mention the devastation of the country and damage to the population).
ORIGIN OF THE CLASH AND CONQUER OF CARIGNANO
The clash arises from the attempt by Francis I and Charles V to prevail in the Italian states: both have as their objective the possession of strongholds that must guarantee the security of the cities acquired and the hegemony over the surrounding territory within an area more or less extensive. The defense of the besieged in the city of Carignano becomes crucial for the Imperials to maintain possessions to the left of the Po, in the middle of the French strongholds; while for the French it is essential to prevent the reunification of the Imperials (who from Asti try to bring relief to Carignano), which could endanger the balance in the areas conquered in Piedmont.
THE DISCOUNT
For the time it is not a question of small armies. If we consider that in a single day about 30 thousand soldiers clash and that at the time 30 thousand are also the inhabitants of Turin, we can realize the proportions. This is a head-on collision, not necessarily sought, but much feared and finally induced by the factual situation, by the accentuation of unfavorable climatic conditions and other impediments that cause a slowdown with the advance of the army of del Vasto (commander of the imperial army) and therefore an acceleration of the prospect - often considered as a last resort to conflicts - of direct confrontation. The delay in travel, which involves above all the variation of the Imperial plans, and the lack of the surprise factor, which could confuse and mess up French expectations, make the battle inevitable. The outcome, however, remains uncertain for a long time, and both sides in the fight are convinced of the defeat and the victory at different times, to confirm what Ludovico Ariosto writes in Orlando furious about the war: "Here is Fortuna as cangia cravings" .
THE NEWS IN THE ART OF WAR
The battle of Ceresole represents a typical example of a transition phase of the art of war. Unlike the medieval wars, in which the knight has a fundamental role, in the battle of Ceresole the prevalence of infantry over cavalry emerges. The infantry of the sixteenth century (which represents the real novelty of the new organization of the war), modeled on the example of the Swiss, is therefore able to resist cavalry charges. The battle of Ceresole also reveals the novelty of the tactics of joint weapons: in fact, cavalry does not fight exclusively against enemy cavalry, but in support of infantry, unlike what happened in the past. In addition, the joint combat of arquebusiers or gunslingers and pikemen, that is, the integration of firearms into the infantry units, which allows soldiers to kill captains in the first ranks of the opposing army, proves to be another significant novelty. The evolution of the art of war is understood in the greater relevance that firearms assume in combat and in the difficulty in facing them. Both the harquebus (the new weapon) and the cannon make the role of the individual medieval knights less and less decisive, certainly well armored, but less functional to the modern dynamics of the clashes: the possibility of combining firearms and light cavalry charges puts in fact opposing squadrons in difficulty. The medieval knight, represented in the battle especially by the French hommes d’armes, therefore has a marginal role compared to the Renaissance infantry.
THE LAST KNIGHT Another peculiarity of the battle consists in the fact that the last knight to be named on the field of which we have news is Blaise de Monluc, the commander of the French arquebusiers who obtains the appointment of knight at the end of the clash on the battlefield in the Ceresole plain.
The peace that follows from it in Crépy is only an ephemeral truce; the armies continue to run the territory and in 1588 Ceresole is again set on fire by the Spaniards.
In 1630 the imperial army of Rambaldo di Collalto lodged there; in the same year, 23,000 French pass through to Canale. For the inhabitants of Ceresole, in addition to violence and depredations, their memory remains in the plague, which rages again in November.The civil war brings other disasters.
In 1639 the town was sacked by the Alemannians; two years later it suffered the same fate by the French. The sad story was repeated in 1690: on 7 October it was sacked by the Alemanns, followed after nine days by the French, who returned on 29 October and burned everything.
The tragic series of looting ended in 1706, on 22 June, by the French headed for the siege of Turin. In the last quarter of the 17th century, the last of the Roero family - Francesco Bernardino - also sold the "palace" and reduced himself to living in the stable of the details, dying in poverty in 1707 at the Carmagnola hospital.
The massacre of the martyrs of Ceresole d'Alba
In the night between 21 and 22 July 1944 350 Germans, accompanied by about twenty republics
coming from Scalenghe and Pinerolo, they march on Ceresole.
The formations divided into two groups move and operate independently and then meet in the locality
Maghini at dawn on Saturday 22.
The Germans stop:
Giovanni Novarino (46 years old), the owner of the Novarino farmhouse in via S. Antonio.
Florindo Pettinati (42 years old), from Turin displaced with a partisan son, Mario "Walter" who arrived in
village looking for weapons.
Ruggero Degno while trying to hide near the Riccardo stream. Joined the 12th Division
Bra the week before.
Giovanni Trinchero (cl. 1916), surprised at home as he is about to go to mass
Bartolome Gioda, aged 17, later released in Alfiere.
a group of six young people, in the Tagliata region. In an attempt to avoid the mopping up, they have
spent the night under a mulberry tree.
"With flattened muskets surround the tree and intimate surrender. It is a small group of six
[…] Young people asleep, who did not respond to the republican call to arms and to escape
to the continuous raids they went to sleep in the countryside, near the woods. They are:
Vincenzo Molina (born in 1920), Giuseppe Lusso (born in 1920), Michele Dassano (born in 1922),
Gianfermo Burzio (born in 1924), Gregorio Ferrero (born in 1924), Tommaso Marocco
(Classe1925). They are beaten and searched: they don't have weapons, they don't have documents
compromising. Between cheeks that make them deform their faces, punches in the hips and kicks, they come
pushed to the Maghini ».
In 1639 the town was sacked by the Alemannians; two years later it suffered the same fate by the French. The sad story was repeated in 1690: on 7 October it was sacked by the Alemanns, followed after nine days by the French, who returned on 29 October and burned everything.
The tragic series of looting ended in 1706, on 22 June, by the French headed for the siege of Turin. In the last quarter of the 17th century, the last of the Roero family - Francesco Bernardino - also sold the "palace" and reduced himself to living in the stable of the details, dying in poverty in 1707 at the Carmagnola hospital.
The massacre of the martyrs of Ceresole d'Alba
In the night between 21 and 22 July 1944 350 Germans, accompanied by about twenty republics
coming from Scalenghe and Pinerolo, they march on Ceresole.
The formations divided into two groups move and operate independently and then meet in the locality
Maghini at dawn on Saturday 22.
The Germans stop:
Giovanni Novarino (46 years old), the owner of the Novarino farmhouse in via S. Antonio.
Florindo Pettinati (42 years old), from Turin displaced with a partisan son, Mario "Walter" who arrived in
village looking for weapons.
Ruggero Degno while trying to hide near the Riccardo stream. Joined the 12th Division
Bra the week before.
Giovanni Trinchero (cl. 1916), surprised at home as he is about to go to mass
Bartolome Gioda, aged 17, later released in Alfiere.
a group of six young people, in the Tagliata region. In an attempt to avoid the mopping up, they have
spent the night under a mulberry tree.
"With flattened muskets surround the tree and intimate surrender. It is a small group of six
[…] Young people asleep, who did not respond to the republican call to arms and to escape
to the continuous raids they went to sleep in the countryside, near the woods. They are:
Vincenzo Molina (born in 1920), Giuseppe Lusso (born in 1920), Michele Dassano (born in 1922),
Gianfermo Burzio (born in 1924), Gregorio Ferrero (born in 1924), Tommaso Marocco
(Classe1925). They are beaten and searched: they don't have weapons, they don't have documents
compromising. Between cheeks that make them deform their faces, punches in the hips and kicks, they come
pushed to the Maghini ».
At 8.30 the Germans, after the looting in the farmhouses, gather the arrested. A mock trial, few
minutes, sentenced to death. All accused of being "banished".
The execution is scheduled in Carmagnola. After a kilometer, the Germans order the back:
the civilian population must be frightened in the hope of making scorched earth around the formations
partisans: the people of Ceresola must die in Ceresole.
“Tanks, armored personnel carriers and SS soldiers literally occupy the main street. I see my young people
with a swollen face, eyes full of blood, almost unrecognizable ... », so the parish priest Don Pietro Cordero
in 1954, he remembers the scene.
Lined up along the wall overlooking the Campana di Giacomo Novarino hotel. Prepare the loops: one
rope unrolled and cut to regular lengths. The pastor has ten minutes to confess the condemned and distribute the hosts.
Of the ten sentenced to death, nine are executed.
One, Giuseppe Lusso, is being held to be executed elsewhere. They take him first to Carmagnola and
then to Scalenghe. After twenty days he is released.
Giovanni Trinchero, Florindo Pettinati and Ruggero Degno are hanged on a hotel balcony
Bell.
Ruggero does not die immediately, he writhes desperately. A corpulent soldier clings to him
until the body no longer moves. Then he leaves satisfied, laughing and smoking with indifference.
Shortly thereafter, Tommaso Marocco, Gregorio Ferrero and others hung from another balcony of the hotel
Michele Dassano.
They spend a few minutes and at the balcony of the Croce house, a private house that stands a hundred meters away
distance, Vincenzo Molina, Giovanni Novarino and Gianfermo Burzio are hanged. The rope of
Gianfermo breaks and he gets up in disbelief. Immediately the Germans hanged him a second
time. This time the rope doesn't break.
minutes, sentenced to death. All accused of being "banished".
The execution is scheduled in Carmagnola. After a kilometer, the Germans order the back:
the civilian population must be frightened in the hope of making scorched earth around the formations
partisans: the people of Ceresola must die in Ceresole.
“Tanks, armored personnel carriers and SS soldiers literally occupy the main street. I see my young people
with a swollen face, eyes full of blood, almost unrecognizable ... », so the parish priest Don Pietro Cordero
in 1954, he remembers the scene.
Lined up along the wall overlooking the Campana di Giacomo Novarino hotel. Prepare the loops: one
rope unrolled and cut to regular lengths. The pastor has ten minutes to confess the condemned and distribute the hosts.
Of the ten sentenced to death, nine are executed.
One, Giuseppe Lusso, is being held to be executed elsewhere. They take him first to Carmagnola and
then to Scalenghe. After twenty days he is released.
Giovanni Trinchero, Florindo Pettinati and Ruggero Degno are hanged on a hotel balcony
Bell.
Ruggero does not die immediately, he writhes desperately. A corpulent soldier clings to him
until the body no longer moves. Then he leaves satisfied, laughing and smoking with indifference.
Shortly thereafter, Tommaso Marocco, Gregorio Ferrero and others hung from another balcony of the hotel
Michele Dassano.
They spend a few minutes and at the balcony of the Croce house, a private house that stands a hundred meters away
distance, Vincenzo Molina, Giovanni Novarino and Gianfermo Burzio are hanged. The rope of
Gianfermo breaks and he gets up in disbelief. Immediately the Germans hanged him a second
time. This time the rope doesn't break.
The massacre is accomplished. The Germans are still not satisfied: they set the Campana hotel on fire.
The flames also burn the strings of three of the hanged men who fall to the ground now
unrecognizable. Again hoisted to the balcony.
The highest among the Germans orders that the executed be left dangling under penalty of destruction
up area. The population terrified by the violence perpetrated does not dare to disregard orders. THE
Germans who fly over the town several times to check compliance with the instructions given.
The SS leave Ceresole taking the stolen goods and some hostages, including the Turin bricklayer
Vincenzo Montella (36 years old) surprised at the Baracca farmhouse. He is hanged with Onorato Toppan
a few hours later on the square of the Sommariva Bosco station.
The bodies of the nine hanged men from Ceresole, now in partial decomposition due to the summer heat,
they are returned to families and to the piety of the community only in the afternoon of the following day, Sunday 23
July 1944.
Information taken from the site:
http://www.stradememoriepartigiane.it/ceresole/
The flames also burn the strings of three of the hanged men who fall to the ground now
unrecognizable. Again hoisted to the balcony.
The highest among the Germans orders that the executed be left dangling under penalty of destruction
up area. The population terrified by the violence perpetrated does not dare to disregard orders. THE
Germans who fly over the town several times to check compliance with the instructions given.
The SS leave Ceresole taking the stolen goods and some hostages, including the Turin bricklayer
Vincenzo Montella (36 years old) surprised at the Baracca farmhouse. He is hanged with Onorato Toppan
a few hours later on the square of the Sommariva Bosco station.
The bodies of the nine hanged men from Ceresole, now in partial decomposition due to the summer heat,
they are returned to families and to the piety of the community only in the afternoon of the following day, Sunday 23
July 1944.
Information taken from the site:
http://www.stradememoriepartigiane.it/ceresole/