The name first appears in 1129, for a farm given to the monastery of Santa Maria near Acqui. It most likely comes from the calamandrina, a dwarf oak: these hills were once covered with elms and oaks, and some eighteenth-century atlases spell the village Calamandrina. It splits in two: Calamandrana Alta on the castle hill, Calamandrana Bassa on the Belbo plain.
In valle San Giovanni the church of San Giovanni delle Conche has three apses of different ages: the Romanesque one wedged into its right flank, a smaller neo-Gothic one added for symmetry, a taller late Baroque one to the north. The bell tower ties them together and the interior ends up almost circular.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Calamandrana
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Calamandrana, but an easy day trip away.