Alto is a Piedmontese comune that faces the sea. The upper Pennavaira valley forms a narrow, irregular triangle wedged between the provinces of Savona and Imperia, and Alto, with neighbouring Caprauna, looks out over the seaward side of the Ligurian Alps, the only such case in Piedmont. It looks to Albenga rather than Cuneo for historical reasons: the marquises of Clavesana granted it in fief to the counts Cepollini in 1320, and the little county survived four centuries among far larger states until the fief passed to the House of Savoy in 1736.
The name comes from Altum, the height it stands on; the arms repeat it literally: quartered silver and red, with four black capitals, A, L, T, O. Felice Cascione, the partisan doctor who wrote Fischia il vento, fell here, remembered by a stone at Fontane; and at Alto, on Epiphany 1944, the song was first sung officially.
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📅 Every year, on 29 September
On 29 September Alto celebrates Saint Michael the Archangel with a traditional procession through the streets of the village; with just 121 residents, it is one of the smallest municipalities in Piedmont.
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 Alto, but an easy day trip away.
