Mombercelli

Three explanations are offered for the name: the Latin mons bergerum for the hill, the Piedmontese mont birchà for its birches and, far more likely, the Lombard mombirsàn, a hunting ground. The village motto is an open door: Hospes veniat, fugiat hostis, let the guest come and the enemy flee.

Between 1940 and 1943 nineteen Jewish refugees were interned here, families with children among them. After the eighth of September, with the Germans arriving, the group scattered quickly: some stayed hidden nearby, others went south towards the Allied lines. Every one of them survived.