Sommariva del Bosco is called the gate of the Roero, standing at the western outlet of that hill country; the town is in two parts, one on the plain and one on the hill. It first appears in documents in 1059, was contested between the Savoys and the Roero family, and in 1733 passed to the marquises Seyssel d'Aix, who have owned the castle ever since.
The town is dominated by the castle, the parish church and the eleven bell towers of as many churches. That density of religious buildings has a precise explanation: in the seventeenth century a kind of contest ran between the confraternities and between the people of the four quarters into which the old centre is divided, each vying to build the largest church with the tallest tower.
Chiesa e convento di Sant'Anna · Zona naturale di salvaguardia dei Boschi e delle Rocche del Roero · santuario della Beata Vergine Maria di San Giovanni and 3 more
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Next up: Feast of the Blessed Virgin, Thursday 6 May
Nearest airport: Torino Caselle, 49 km away
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📅 Every year, on 6 May
On 6 May Sommariva del Bosco celebrates its patroness; on Holy Thursday the processions of the rabastau and of the stars go out, and in September comes the honey festival.
Chiesa e convento di Sant'Anna The Servite convent of Sommariva del Bosco, with its crypt under the floor. 
Zona naturale di salvaguardia dei Boschi e delle Rocche del Roero The Rocche del Roero: cliff faces carved by erosion after the Tanaro changed course. 
santuario della Beata Vergine Maria di San Giovanni The sanctuary grown around a votive pillar, with a painted book said to carry the town's names. 
castello dei Seyssel d'Aix Half thirteenth-century stronghold, half eighteenth-century villa, lived in by the Seyssel d'Aix since 1733. 
chiesa di San Sebastiano The church of the San Sebastiano quarter, where the young men leapt on the bonfire's embers. 
chiesa delle Sante Orsola ed Elisabetta The church of a women's confraternity, now deconsecrated and used for exhibitions. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
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