Balocco

Balocco lies on the left bank of the Cervo, among rice fields on the road to Buronzo; in Roman times the via delle Gallie ran through, the consular road Augustus built to link the Po plain with Gaul. The name has no agreed origin: some trace it to the Latin badaluchum, a bird trap, some to badaluchus, a skirmish or a trifle, others to the Celtic lauc. The village first appears in the tenth century, in the list of Vercelli parishes made under bishop Ingone.

In 1124 comes Eustachio Confalonieri di Balocco, the first known name of the family that held the fief into the early seventeenth century: worth more as standing than as income, it went to local lords who took their surname from the place. The Confalonieri had the right to precede bishops in processions and to carry the banner. The castle, raised around the year one thousand and burned by the lords of Rovasenda, was rebuilt in 1423. The arms set two crossed ears of rice inside a cogwheel, beside the tower; at Cascina Bella Luigina lies the test track built for Alfa Romeo, where cars are still tested.