Ceresole Reale holds the head of the Orco valley, between the Gran Paradiso and the Levanne, every hamlet above 1500 metres; the steep Erta delle Scalee, climbed on foot in the last century, cuts it off from the valley below. The name probably recalls an old wood of ceresiolae, small cherries.
The title Reale, borne by only one other Italian town, Venaria, came in 1862 from Vittorio Emanuele II, to whom Ceresole had ceded its chamois and ibex hunting rights for free; on the arms two ibex hold the Savoy shield, gules a cross argent, under a royal crown. Local tradition has an ancient lake in the basin, drained when the rock at the mouth of the Scalee gave way: today's reservoir comes from the dam built between the wars. At the Grand Hotel, in the summer of 1890, Giosuè Carducci wrote his ode Piemonte.
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📅 Every year, on 6 December
On 6 December Ceresole Reale celebrates its patron Saint Nicholas; the town is home to the smallest elementary school in Italy, celebrated at the 2016 Sanremo Festival.
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 Ceresole Reale, but an easy day trip away.
