San Damiano was born out of a destruction: in 1275 the men of Asti razed the castles of Gorzano, Castelnuovo, Lavezzole and Marcellengo, and nearby founded a new borgo into which the inhabitants of the destroyed villages were forced to move. The name came from a little church that was already there.
The historic centre is still that one: a villa nova laid out between 1275 and 1276 by the Genoese Oberto Spinola, then captain of the people of Asti, on the model of a Roman military camp. The Contrada Maestra, today via Roma, is crossed at regular intervals by ten minor streets, and the four bastions that closed the square have become avenues of limes and planes.
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📅 Every year, on 16 August
On 16 August San Damiano d'Asti celebrates Saint Roch in the chapel of the district that bears his name; the town is also one of seven municipalities that race in the Palio di Asti.
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 San Damiano d'Asti, but an easy day trip away.
