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THE ENVIRONMENT AS “LIVING HISTORY” Ligurian land offers many surprises to travellers, thanks to its manifold sceneries. Within everyday covered sceneries there are small hidden valleys, slotted into unexplored mountains and strips of land: they represent a precious historical evidence 
of the country culture and art treasures.The more you gain altitude, the more boundless sceneries will open before you. Some mountain places have changed and lost a lot, and in many cases were depopulated, as a consequence of the exodus towards the city and the coast. Little country villages in the Apennine valleys, farmsteads or dry-stone walls: all this makes up our identity, and very soon it will vanish without a trace, cancelled by the implacable advance of woods. Nevertheless in the Stura Valley agriculture and breeding practises still exist, thanks to one-hundred-year-old local forms of cooperation that have strongly helped to keep the environment as it has always been.  The two valleys are given the same name of the Orba and the Stura torrents. Our Valleys are situated on the Apennine side facing the Lombardy plain and include respectively Campo Ligure, Masone and Rossiglione (Stura Valley) and Tiglieto (Orba Valley). This territory is included in the section belonging to the two streams, being the confluence of the Stura into the Orba in northern Monferrato, near Ovada. The torrent Stura has its source from the slopes of Mount Orditano, in Piani di Prataglia, and meets the Orba after 31 kilometres. Its hydrographic basin gives visitors various possible sceneries thanks to its many streams and minor torrents. Its first affluent is the torrent Vezzulla: it rises Vesolina Mount (mt. 974), it meets the Stura near Masone. On its left side, the Stura receives several minor streams: among them the Masone,rising from Mount Dente (mt. 1.107) and giving the same name to the valley; there is also the torrent Masca, that from the hill meets it near Maddalena. In Campo Ligure the Stura receives at first Ponzema from the right side, (that from Mount Poggio– mt.1081 – runs through Poggio Valley) and later the torrent Aangassino (rising from the Mount Pracabàn - mt.946). These three torrents lap 3 sides of Campo Ligure’s old town centre and, once, made it easy to defend: therefore they brought about economic fortune (ironworks, and factories) but, at the same time, caused devastating floods too. In Upper Rossiglione the Berlino torrent penetrates the area on the the right side of the Stura and creates a wide catch basin near the Pracaban Mountains, Bellavista and Colma; in Lower Rossiglione, on the contrary, the Gargassa torrent joins the Stura from the left side (the Gargassa springs from the Mount Malpasso and the Pavaglione Mount – mt.890). The Orba springs from the Faiallo Mount (mt.1201) and joins the Olbarina, coming from the Beigua Mount (mt. 287), near Olba. The Orba joins the Bormida near Alessandria. The Stura and Orba valleys are still nowadays full of farmsteads, even if the farthest ones from the towns were abandoned a long time ago and are ruins now. Little by little the valleys’ steep slopes were terraced and became cultivable. Agriculture have been the country people’s main source of support for centuries. 
The uncultivated land was mainly full of chestnut woods. In the valley – bottom plots of land wheat,
indian corn, legumes and vegetales were cultivated, until ,in the last century, potatoes were introduced.
Forage for the cattle feeding (manly it dealt with cows and sheeps) was gathered in the upper pastures. The history of the Ligurian Apennines and the Stura and Orba valleys is strongly linked to the chestnut tree. Let us imagine ourselves being in the 11th century, when people started settling in the Apennines’ hinterland. As a matter of fact people started settling there from the Roman age: the “Salt Ways” crossing the mountains and some place-names prove it. But, on the other hand, it is true that this colonization and garrisons were just along the main lines of communication. Before the 11th century had little more than 7 millions of inhabitants, mainly in the South. Therefore, the North and the mountain areas in general were depopulated. The human settling in the hinterland started in that period. In the Po Plain there was a vast oak and ash wood, that was quickly deforested in order to gain more ad more cultivable land and to support the increasing population. Other people then, such as traders, soldiers or pilgrims started the colonization of the valley at different heights. They brought the chestnut tree with them, and very soon it would replace the oak and hornbeam woods. Therefore the first great man-caused change in this area is linked to chestnuts: the “green desert” was replaced by the chestnut wood, its trades and products. This plant can be used in several ways, such as timber, raw material for coal, food. 
Dried chestnuts were the main local food: the traditional diet could link carbohydrates with
milk and vegetables; it was a pretty all-round diet after all, if you consider
the generally difficult life conditions of people living in farmsteads.The streams, securing plentiness of water all the year long, and the surrounding woods, from which you get timber and charcoal, fostered the development of ironworks, mallets and forges, spread all over the Stura and Orba valleys. The iron ore coming from the Elba Isle used to come from the coast to Voltri, to come back later , once processed and transformed , mainly into nails for dockyards and building production. With the decline of the iron industry in the 19th century because of the English and later on Italian competition, the ironworks were replaced by silk mills and later on by modern cotton-mills. They worked until the 1950s, thanks also to mainly female workforce employment. It’s worth remembering that these factories helped to keep the population linked to their land, sparing the Stura valley the tragedy of emigration, that involved and depopulated other Ligurian areas. In 1884, Antonio Oliveri from Campo is told by tradition to have established the first handicraft workshop of filigree: he had gone to Genoa to learn the art of golden and silver filigree, and came to Campo in the 80s in order to escape a cholera epidemic. Since then this activity has been constantly developing, so that today Campo Ligure is considered the filigree national centre. Campo Ligure was very likely to be inhabited by the tribe of the Ligurian Stazielli, established on the left side of the Stura. It became a military encampment in Roman times (between the III and the VI century), protected by the streams Stura, Ponzema,Angassino and by the rocky hill of the castle, and you can still nowadays see the main features and traces of the ancient foundations. The whole territory of the Stura valley, included in the Longobard borders, lived the horrors of the barbaric devastiations. We know little about the early Middle Ages; you have to go back to the XI century a.C. in order to find the first written historical information, thanks to the economic and demographic restarting. After lucky and unlucky events, an imperial feud was established and in 1329 became Anfreone Spinola’s feud. It belonged to this family until 1797. The village being in the centre of a very important road network, became an active business centre: traders from the Riviera and from Monferrato could reach Campo, exchange their goods in the town square and go back home, and all this before the day was over. In the 16th century the conflict with the neighbouring feud of Masone sharpened in order to fix the boundary lines. After long-lasting conflicts there came peace in 1595, followed by the tragedy of July 1600. The Corsican soldiers were sent to put down the rebellion against the Spinolas’ misrule: therefore the town was besieged, set on fire and completely destroyed. During the 17th century Campo started repeopling, with the reconstruction of the whole town and the colonization of farther and farther lands from the village, until the feud’s extreme boundary lines. In the 18th century you could see the town as it looks nowadays: they laid the foundations of the new parish, the front of the oratory of San Sebastiano was remade in a baroque style; the brotherhood of Virgin Mary received into Heaven restored its oratory rebuilding the front too. At the end of the century, after the revolutionary events, Campo and the other imperial Ligurian feuds were annexed to the Ligurian Republic and later to the French Empire (1805). Annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia (1815), Campo followed the destiny of that kingdom. In ancient times Masone was just a little village protected by the fort in the south (the present square, Piazza Castelllo); it belonged to the marquis Del Bosco until they were turned out by the Genoese Republic, at the and of the 13th centrury, in order to be enfeoffed to Genoese families loyal to the Republic. As a matter of fact the Republic couldn’t stand the presence of enemy forces in Masone and its castle, because of their strategic position. The families Lomellini, Cattaneo, Spinola, Grimaldi Cebà, Pallavicini followed one upon the other. The strategic position, its location along the Canellona Road (linking Voltri to Stura Valley) and the plentiness of water and coal let the creation of ironworks for the dockyards and building products of the Genoese Republic (the same thing happened to Campo and Rossiglione). In 1546 Andrea Doria, while escaping from the city because of the plot of the Fieschi family, chose the castle of Masone as his safe refuge. During the 1625 war it was besieged by the troops of the Duke of Savoy Carlo Emanuele I. In 1747, during the Austrian war of succession, after a brief besiege, the Austrians destroyed the castle from the foundations. In 1790 it was razed to the ground by the marquis Gian Carlo Pallavicini, where nowadays you can see Piazza Castello. The feud of Masone belonged at first to the Kingdom of Sardinia; after a period of French dominion it belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and later it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy (1861) and then to the Italian Republic (1946). With the building of the Turchino main road (1869-1872) in the lower part of the valley, “new”settlements appeared, along the road, in the alluvial plane of the Stura, with the subsequent urban development during the post-war period. As far as the first human settlements in Stura Valley are concerned, Rossiglione gives us the first historical informations. In 1939, between Rossiglione and Molare, in the northern side of Mount Ciazze, the archaeologist Luigi Bemabò Brea discovered an ancient settlement dated back to the V century b.C. It was very likely that the Ligurian Stazielli lived there; these people remained there until the Roman conquest in the II cent. b.C. Rossiglione was included within the Longobard borders too; at first it belonged to the marquis Del Bosco e the Malaspina family that, at the beginning of the XIII century, made over their rights on the town villa to the Genoese Republic. The Statutes of Rossiglione, drawn up during the 14th century, concerned a thriving business and trade centre; it was managed by a Council made up of the eight most ancient and important family members, who ruled with great autonomy. The birth of the little village of Upper Rossiglione is thought to be dated back to that period (Villafranca), that together with the older Lower Rossiglione forms the present Commune. In Rossiglione, as well as in the whole Stura valley, the iron and steel industries were very thriving thanks to the plentiness of streams and coal. In 1673, 8 of the 47 ironworks at work in the Genoese Republic were concentrated in Rossiglione. The town was involved in the Monferrato war (1625): when near there the Genoese troops (including soldiers from Masone and Rossiglione) were defeated by the troops of the Duke of Savoy, it was repeatedly and heavily attacked and destroyed. Always during the Austrian war of succession, the Austro- Sardinians occupied Rossiglione, belonging it at that time to the enemy Genoese Republic, allied with the French. During the second French campaign in Italy in 1799-1800, Rossiglione, as well as the whole valley, saw conflicts between French-Polish and Cisalpine troops and the Austro-Russians. After the Congress of Vienna it followed the destiny of the whole territory annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia. 
The origins of Tiglieto are very ancient: its first name is thought to be “Civitacula”, meaning little town, and changed afterwards in Tiglieto because of the several and stately lime-trees. According to Paolo Diacono, historian of the Longobards, the whole area was part of a vast forest, the hunting reserve of Longobard Kings. The fist historical information date back to 1120 when Pietro di la Fertè founded the first Cistercian settlement in Italy, in the alluvial plane in the Orba, the Badia, meaning “the abbey”. For many centuries Tiglieto and its Badia had a first-rank influence and function in the polical, social and economic life in the whole district, quickly widening its properties and establishing many filiations in the north-west of Italy. Often the Abbots managed manifold political matters or acted for the Genoese Republic in the wars against Pisa. After mixed fortunes the monastery was closed down and the whole district was bought by the marquis Raggi, who started major improvement and land reclamation works. In 1667 the Romanesque bridge on the Orba was nearly completely reconstructed and a new ironwork was built. In 1782 the river Orba was diverted in order to avoid the periodical floods in the plane and the consequent damage to the local economic system. In 1779 Tiglieto gained the administrative autonomy (it had been under the jurisdiction of Sassello since then) including the lands all around the banks of Orba previously belonging to Rossiglione and Sassello. At the beginning of the last century, the population’s needs changed, therefore the town was no more all one and the same with its Abbey, but extended its boundaries, with a consequent new urban dimension. The population increased and became more economically indipendent from the Raggi family, thanks to the seasonal emigration (woodcutters and carpenters): all this gave birth to a new village, Tiglieto, on the Mount Calvo coast and near the Casavecchia farmstead. The new town hall and some new schools were constructed: in 1932 was also built a new church that reminded very much the abbey, and it became the parish church. During the second post-war period, tourism became the driving business of the town, real estates grew considerably in number, mainly made up of country houses. The town had 600 permanent inhabitants, in summer the population grew over 8000. Still nowadays the Stura valley is considered a major communication route between the Genoese Riviera and Monferrato. At present it is passed through by the 456 Turchino main road (linking Piedmont to Genoa), by the A26 “dei trafori” motorway (from Voltri going towards Alessadria and Novara) and by the Genova- Ovada- Acqui Terme-Asti railway line. The Orba Valley is linked to Valle Stura and to Rossiglione through the Tiglieto’s Crocietta Pass. Other main roads lead to the western Ligurian Riviera through the Faiallo pass and the 456 main road near the Turchino pass. |
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Sito
ufficiale della Comunità Montana Valli Stura e Orba |
