Marsaglia

Marsaglia sits on the western flank of one of the great Langhe ridges, the one running from Montezemolo to Alba without any real dip. Two streams cross it, the Arzola di Murazzano and the Cusina, meeting at its lowest point. Its boundaries have hardly changed: they are already those of the deed by which, in 1536, Francesco, marquis of Saluzzo, sold the fief to Sebastiano Pensa of Mondovì.

Outside the village, in a wood of turkey oaks, stands the chapel of San Ponzio, once the parish church: by 1628 it was no longer, yet its graveyard still served the farmers beyond the Arzola. In the local-sandstone apse, Segurano Cigna painted in the eighth decade of the fifteenth century Christ in judgement and the twelve apostles, grouped three by three, each with a scroll bearing a verse of the Creed. On the forecourt lay a hollowed stone: from it, so they said, flowed all the oil for the lamp of the Blessed Sacrament, and the wonder ended when that oil was put to profane use. The stone now stands at the door of the parish church of Sant'Eusebio.