Cassano Spinola, where did this name come from?
According to some interpretations, the term “Cassano” derives from the name of an important Roman family: the gens Cassia. Cassano, in fact, arose along the Via Postumia-in this fertile plain that had already attracted earlier populations-thus at the turn of the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D., at the behest of an unknown and legendary member of the gens Cassia.
The “surname” Spinola was added because, from the Middle Ages until the late eighteenth century, this place was a fief of the Spinola family.
A parish was located in Cassano as early as the Late Antique Age, but its first attestation in documents dates back to 1175. This was first subject to the monastery of San Colombano of Bobbio and then to that of San Giovanni Domnarum of Pavia, eventually passing to the diocese of Tortona. The fief itself turns out to be the possession of the Novara counts De Caltignaga, whose local descendants submitted to the municipality of Tortona in the 12th century.
In 1218, Genoa and Tortona finally entered into a peace treaty, through which it was established that Cassano was a Tortonese possession. However, this did not prevent the Spinola family from beginning to settle in the fief, also obtaining Tortonese citizenship.
From 1313, thanks to their proximity to Emperor Henry VII, the Spinola family obtained many fiefs, including Cassano.
The Spinola family was not an easy character; over the centuries they created havoc inside and outside the Republic of Genoa, with changes of alliances, revolts, etc. An episode from the late seventeenth century makes it clear that, at least at that time, they were not particularly beloved even by the people of Cassano, or at least this was the case for Marquis Biagio, who was shot dead on November 29, 1687, at the hands of a man of humble circumstances.
A century later, the Spinola di Cassano’s lack of direct heirs led the Royal Piedmontese tax authorities to suppress the fief and make it part of the Savoy Kingdom.
What to see in Cassano Spinola
- CHIESA PARROCCHIALE DI SAN PIETRO
- PALAZZO SPINOLA MILLELIRE
- FRAZIONE DI GAVAZZANA
- CHIESA DI SAN MARTINO VESCOVO
The church, of medieval origin, underwent many profound changes over time, especially between the 18th and 20th centuries.
The exterior well shows the overlapping of structures from different eras: brick walls that are almost impossible to date coexist with the 18th-century bell tower, the 1960s facade, and the bronze side portal from 1997. The latter is the work of sculptor Nicola Neonato (Borzonasca, 1912-Genoa, 2006) famous especially for his numerous monuments to partisans, among whose ranks he fought under the battle name Pollaiolo.
The interior of the church features an eclectic style, chosen during renovations made between the late 19th century and World War II.
The high altar is a riot of marble: the altar itself, eighteenth-century, comes from the suppressed parish of Alluvioni Cambiò; the rest was purpose-built in 1942.
The side altars both date from World War II and are dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus-the one on the left-and Our Lady of Mercede-the one on the right.
Three chapels open into the side aisles. To the left is that of Our Lady of the Rosary, on whose altar is preserved the wooden statue made in the 1730s for the first altar with this dedication, which, however, was located a little further down the aisle, that is, where there is now the altar-cave of Our Lady of Lourdes, dating from 1910.
In the right aisle, on the other hand, opens the chapel of St. Joseph, a remake of the one opened in 1626, when the people of Cassano wanted to thank the saint for having had few deaths during the war of the previous year.
Prominent among the few works preserved here is Jesus delivers the keys to St. Peter, a large canvas executed by Genoese painter Rosa Bacigalupo (Genoa, 1794-1854).
This building, first mentioned in 1608, was erected by the Spinola family probably over another palace of theirs built in the Middle Ages.
During the 18th century, the palace followed the female hereditary axis, thus passing from family to family, until the second half of the 19th century, when it ended up at auction. In 1875, it was acquired by the Albini Millelire, a family of admirals in the Savoy navy, who made the mansion even grander and had a large outbuilding built where they could accommodate countless guests.
“With the rapid decline of the Albini-Millelire family, the palace sold and emptied of its precious and artistic furnishings went into an inexorable abandonment that lasted many decades.” (G.M. Merloni, Il palazzo Millelire in Cassano Spinola, s.e., Cassano Spinola, 1992, p. 20) In 1991, a construction company restored it and sold it to a company that chose it as its representative office. Currently, it is owned by the Merloni family, which is building a splendid and rich picture gallery, consisting mainly of works by the most distinguished Genoese painters of the 17th century, including Bernardo Strozzi, Giovanni Andrea Carlone and some of Domenico Piola’s pupils.
The place name comes from the fusion of two words: gaba, ‘high ground,’ and san, ‘locality,’ thus meaning ‘locality on the high ground.’ The small town, still with an agricultural vocation, arose before the 9th century perhaps at the foot of a watchtower whose remains are concealed under the church of St. Martin the Bishop.
The suspicion of the presence of a fortification is endorsed by the presence, attested by documents, of important families such as the De Cassano, Curoli and Sasso.
The history of the village is really difficult to reconstruct, and there are very few events reported in the literature, the main ones being looting.
During the Twenty Years of Fascism, the hamlet lost its independence and became part of the municipality of Cassano Spinola, until 1948, when it returned to municipality. In 2018, it underwent the reverse process, becoming a hamlet again.
Built in 1867 to a design by Cassano architect Giulio Reale, it features an eclectic style of strong neo-Romanesque inspiration.
Domenico Fossati, a painter of the Tortona school, executed the wall decorations in 1941, painting stories from the Gospels.
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