This is the highest village in the Varaita valley, a scattered commune of hamlets reaching the French border, crossed by car at the Colle dell'Agnello. Occitan is spoken here, and with Casteldelfino and Bellino it forms the Castellata. The name is thought to join the two main hamlets: Chianale, from the Latin canalis, the narrows where the Varaita squeezes through, and Castello, called Pont in old documents. Across the slopes spreads the Alevè wood, the largest stone pine forest in Europe.
Since 1942 a dam has closed the valley at Castello, forming the lake that feeds the hydroelectric plants of Casteldelfino, Sampeyre and Frassino. To build it, the hamlet of Chiesa was evacuated and drowned: houses, cemetery and the parish church of San Pietro in Vincoli were rebuilt elsewhere in the commune, and the new village kept the name. At low water the ruined houses show on the lake bed, and until a few years ago the old bell tower still rose above it, before it collapsed. Digging for the dam, in 1936 a necropolis of some twenty graves from the early fourth century BC came to light.
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📅 Every year, on 22 July
On 22 July Pontechianale, a municipality of 182 inhabitants in the province of Cuneo, celebrates its patroness Saint Mary Magdalene, with a calendar of feasts in each hamlet until 18 August.
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 Pontechianale, but an easy day trip away.
