Castelmagno is not a village but a scatter of hamlets across the upper Valle Grana. Fifteen at the start, seven still lived in: the town hall stands at Campomolino, while Riolavato, Càuri, Narbona and Albrato emptied out with emigration. The name comes from the Latin castrum magnum, great castle, and remains of the one that watched the valley can still be seen near Colletto.
Work carried out in 1894 on the Allemandi chapel, the oldest part of the sanctuary of San Magno, turned up a Roman altar to Mars and coins struck around 250: the valley was settled under imperial Rome. Enrico Allemandi of San Michele di Prazzo had the Gothic chapel built in the fifteenth century, and the sanctuary grew around it, with side porticoes and lodgings for pilgrims. In 1744, during the siege of Cuneo, Franco-Spanish troops crossed the Colle Fauniera and sacked Chiappi and Chiotti. The cheese that carries the village name is made here, and at Valliera and Campofei abandoned houses have reopened to produce it again.
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📅 Every year, on 19 August
On 19 August Castelmagno, a municipality of 82 inhabitants in the province of Cuneo, celebrates the very ancient feast of its patron San Magno, at the sanctuary at 1,761 metres above sea level.
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 Castelmagno, but an easy day trip away.
