"Villamiroglio deviates quite clearly from the other
municipal towns of Valle Cerrina because of its
particular shape. Although it is a small town of about
350 inhabitants, it's crossed by 36 km of roads of which
only 15 paved. The remaining roads are completely
unpaved but well-maintained and metalled (sadly no more,
now ed.) to easily reach the many townships scattered in
the crevices of the territory (which 80% is forest). ...
the singular beauty of the place is given to the
villages that constitute, in the woods (elm, acacias,
oak, ash, poplar, hazel, pine and linden trees with a
thick undergrowth of wild roses) in close contact with
nature..."
excerpt from "Belvedere il Monferrato" 2009 -
Publisher Monferrato
on the side: coat of arms of the Municipality of Villamiroglio, based on the coat of arms of the Counts Miroglio of Moncestino's family
Region: Piedmont
Province: Alexandria
Coordinates (main town):
45°8′8″N 8°10′20″E
Altitude (main town): 329
m above sea level
Size: 9,66km²
Population: 361 (al
31/12/2009)
Population density: 35,30 ab./km²
Local inhabitants name:
villamirogliesi
Villamiroglio is placed in the low Monferrato, in the
north-west of the Province of Alessandria. Spread over
an area of approximately 9.7 square kilometers which is
bounded by the Municipality of Moncestino to the east,
the Municipalities of Gabiano and Cerrina to the south,
the Municipality of Odalengo Grande and the Municipality
of Verrua Savoy, in the Province of Turin, to the west.
The chief town Villamiroglio is located on an altitude
of 329m above sea level, in a context characterized by
rounded hills of sandy and stony soils, wich descends in
wide and flat clayey grounds. The chief town
Villamiroglio is located on an altitude of 329m above
sea level, in a context characterized by rounded hills
of sandy and stonysoils, who took the funds wide and
flat nature of clay. The maximum height of the town is
found on the Monte delle Pietre, behind Rairolo, of 443m
above sea level. Other relevant heights are Monte Croce,
396m above sea level, which houses in its underground
the storage basin of the Aqueduct of Monferrato, and the
top of 341m above sea level of Pian dell'Opj in
Villamiroglio, and Monte della Valle of 362m above sea
level in Vallegioliti. The town is strongly
characterized by townships, located in the immediate
vicinity of the historic center of the capital and the
fraction Vallegioliti.
Historically Villamiroglio probably puts its bases in
Lombards settlements attributable to the mid-eighth
century, evidenced by place names such as Mezzalfenga,
Seminenga, Scarfenga, etc. A votive tile, set in the
outer wall of the Church of Villamiroglio, also has an
sculpture attributed to classical Lombard style. However,
it can be hazarded a guess that already Celts, around
the first century BC, were stationed in the immediate
vicinity of Vallegioliti. There are reports of a
population, the Cestini, which from Pavia moved south of
the Po around 100 BC founding a settlement still known
as Moncestino. To these Celts is attributed the name “bric”,
still used today to indicate the heights.
News of the village of Villamiroglio is from the
Imperial Diploma of Frederick Barbarossa of 14 October
1164, with account of its creation to the family
Miroglio, which, its said to resist the Marquis of
Monferrato, founded the town called once Villa Santa
Maria, wich took later their name, and held the
government of the town until the '700. The Miroglio
submitted to the Marquis of Monferrato on April 12, 1314
and on December 14, 1652 Pietro Giacomo Miroglio
obtained the title of Count for himself and his
descendants. Following the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713,
the territory became part of the dominions of Savoy,
then in the French administrative links Villamiroglio
followed the fate of all other territories already
gravitating around Casale Monferrato and, together with
Casale, who lost his province in 1818, then was included
in the division of Alessandria.
Rilevant buildings are the Church, built in 1714,
overlooking the historic center of town and dedicated to
St. Philip and St. Michael, the former St. Michael's
Church, built next to the cemetery and the church of St.
Liberata in Case Alemanno's township. In the fraction of
Vallegioliti are significant the church erected in 1819
and dedicated to St. Stephen, and St. Philip's Church in
Mezzalfenga, the latter already mentioned in the
investiture of the Bishop Giovanni Fieschi of Vercelli
in 1349. There is also a Vallegioliti a votive statue of
St. Pius, erected by pious Brusa Daniele in memory of
religious missionaries of the place. You can meet also
different niches on the walls of the houses, and several
votive chapels, now almost abandoned in the hills, once
widely cultivated, witnesses of strong religious
attachment to this land in the past.
Is supposed the presence of an ancient castle, perhaps
belonged to Miroglio's family, supposedly disappeared
intentionally in the '400 as a result of a fire, of wich
we don't have precise news. As noted by Giuseppe
Niccolini (1877): "Villamiroglio,
home of the municipal authority, is construct on up the
hill within the walls of a strong castle which went up
in flames in the year 1400. The main part of the town is
made up of a dozen houses that surround the majestic and
quickly church. So the ancient walls of the old castle
remains nothing more but a solid and elegant side of the
tower entrance, all but ruined by time, and on top of
which there is almost a poplar planted sign of peace,
harmony and brotherhood." which suggests that the
original site of the castle was actually the same as the
current built-up area around the Parish Church. Some
excerpts of stone walls, foundations of tuff, and a
corner brick with small square openings in a lower level,
are still visible on the slopes of Bricco Castello.
Those ruins wbelogns to a defensive fort of the
Miroglios, placed on the borders of their feud, and not
to an ancient castle, as sometimes mistakenly spread.
From Vallegioliti come the family Giolito, famous
printers of the '500, first in Trino and then in Venice.
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