Casteldelfino lies in the upper Varaita valley, where the valley forks towards Bellino and Pontechianale. For centuries it was called Villa Sant'Eusebio and stood lower down, where the two branches of the stream meet. Passing from the marquisate of Saluzzo to the Dauphiné, in 1330 it saw the Dauphin Humbert II build a castle there, of which some ruins remain; with Bellino and Pontechianale it formed the Castellata, whose capital it was, and joined the Republic of the Escartons until these valleys returned to Savoy.
A landslide destroyed the old village in 1391, leaving only the church of Sant'Eusebio, still standing; the village was rebuilt higher up and in 1431 took its new name from the Dauphin's castle. The arms say it without words: Saint Margaret enthroned, a small gold cross in her right hand, resting on an upturned gold dolphin. Occitan is spoken here, and much of the Alevè wood, the largest native Swiss pine forest in western Europe, lies inside the municipal boundary.
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📅 Every year, on the third Sunday of July
On the third Sunday of July Casteldelfino, a municipality of 179 inhabitants in the province of Cuneo, celebrates its patroness Santa Margherita di Antiochia.
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 Casteldelfino, but an easy day trip away.
