Towers, Coats of Arms and the Monferrato Landscape: a Day in Capriata d'Orba

A quiet, industrious and pleasant present that sinks its roots into a long, troubled and evocative past that over the centuries of history has seen Capriata d'Orba contested between the powers that succeeded one another in the area. The territory where the village is located, crossed by several routes that descend from the mountain passes of the Gavi area to the sea, was already inhabited in prehistoric times, and numerous finds also testify to the Roman presence, among which perhaps the most important was the discovery, in 1926, of the great stele of S. Agata, from the first century. We arrive at Capriata d'Orba ten minutes after leaving the Novi Ligure motorway tollbooth, but the village can be reached in the same short time also by those coming from Genoa, exiting at the Ovada tollbooth.

We are in the Alto Monferrato, in a village located at less than two hundred metres of altitude, from which in a few minutes by car one can reach the highest hills around Gavi. In good weather, looking towards Ovada, the blue mountain chains of the Ligurian Apennines can also be clearly made out on the horizon. Entering the village, we park the car in the main square, flanked on one side by the porticoes of the parish church dedicated to S. Pietro and Paolo and to the Madonna del Rosario. Our curiosity is immediately caught by the church's bell tower: it stands out towards the sky, very tall, imposing, and seen from the small square it seems even taller. It doesn't even think of fitting inside the frame of a photo, as if it wanted to say: forget photos, to admire me, you have to come here in person.

A landmark, a monument that has seen centuries of Capriata's history flow at its feet: the church, in fact, is a splendid Doric construction of which the first record dates back to 1200. We continue our walk along the characteristic streets of Capriata, under balconies immersed in flowers and among houses painted in various sunny colours, which create a bridge with the Ligurian tradition of the place. We reach the remains of the Torre del Castel Vecchio, a fortification already existing in the Early Middle Ages, in fact this tower was the last of a chain of towers that reached here from Parodi Ligure. While we are going up via Mazzini, we meet a gentleman and a lady who, seeing us poking around the historic centre, invite us to see the coats of arms of the families that ruled Capriata over past centuries.

Mr Carlo Protto, an engineer with a passion for heraldry and local history, invites us to his home, a historic building located on the street, and shows us a spectacular collection of coats of arms. “This is Casa Paleari, I am writing a book on the history of this building. It seems it already existed in 1300-1400”, Mr Protto tells us, as he leads us into the building. The walls of the entrance hall are all entirely adorned with the very colourful coats of arms of the families that governed the village, proof of the fact that here truly every corner is steeped in history.

Francesca Bertha

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