Francavilla Bisio sits on the Lemme's right bank, where the stream reaches the plain. The site is identified with ancient Bassignana, or Bassignanella, while the name probably comes from a tax exemption granted by its feudal lords. In the twelfth century the abbots of Rivalta Scrivia held the grange of Santa Maria here. Until 1863 the comune was simply Francavilla.
The Guasco castle, grown around a tower already standing in the tenth century, dominates the village; its medieval look came with nineteenth century rebuilding. Two towers alternate with wheat ears on the coat of arms, and the parish church of the Madonna delle Grazie, from 1950, repeats the castle's red brick.
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📅 Every year, on 21 May
Francavilla Bisio celebrates Our Lady of Graces on 21 May; her 1950 parish church has a red-brick façade that deliberately echoes the motif of the Guasco castle, which has overlooked the settlement since a tower already existing in the 10th century.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Francavilla Bisio, but an easy day trip away.
