THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF MONCALIERI

Moncalieri originates from Testona, today its hamlet. The Testona site is mentioned for the first time in a 10th century document. The inhabited center was located in the area of a Longobard village and a previous Roman settlement. Another settlement was located on the hill (perhaps near the villa Cardinala), defended by the fortified nucleus of Castelvecchio. Its strategic position, at the center of a fertile plain, made Testona subject to the Bishops of Turin, who controlled the communication routes, the trades and the markets on the road from Asti to Turin and to the Gauls. The conflicts with Asti and Chieri (1227-1229) influenced the decision to move the settlement towards the Po, progressively abandoning the previous nucleus. Testona gradually declined and Moncalieri stated.

This was already developing as a defensive node and a point of direct control on the wide loop of the Po, between the hill and the river, an obligatory passage where traffic flowed between Turin, southern Piedmont and Liguria. In fact, those arriving from the south to head towards France, Aosta and Mont Cenis, or those arriving from the north to go to Cuneo and the Occitan valleys is mandatory to cross the river to Moncalieri, where it is narrower. Moncalieri was therefore the most convenient point for its crossing and for the connection to the via Francigena without passing through Turin; without having to follow the curves of the river (in Chivasso, in Verrua); without having to cross the tributaries (coming from south and south-east, from Genoa, Piacenza, Casale Monferrato, Asti) and with the river not too wide (as it is, for example, at the height of San Mauro, where now Dora and Stura have thrown themselves into it). In Moncalieri there was already a small village that was growing around three elements: a house-fort at the top of the hill, a Franciscan convent and the hospice of Sant'Egidio. In 1196 the Bishop of Turin had donated the chapel and the hospital of Sant'Egidio to the Order of the Templars, which carried out a function of control of the transit routes and the crossing of the Po. They, in 1255, in this strategic node in fluvial and road communication, built a stone bridge, the bridge of San Giovanni (San Giovanni Nepomuceno, protector of fishermen) or Ponte dei Cavalieri.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Moncalieri lived in strict dependence on the life of the Castle. When this became a maison de plaisance of the Savoy court, its renewal triggered a process of redevelopment of the villas and vineyards. The presence of the court exerted a considerable influence on the local nobility and on the richest classes, stimulating them to build elegant villas on the hill and beautiful buildings in the historic center: the city thus experienced a phase of considerable transformation.  The walls soon lost their defensive function and, in the eighteenth century, the walls were gradually dismantled. The arrival of the Napoleonic troops led to important transformations. The roads were improved, the watercourses were regulated and the bridges were renovated; but it was also modified the use of some buildings (many rooms of the Castle, the convent of San Francesco) and some structures were demolished (for example, the church of Santo Spirito, between today's Via Alfieri and Via San Martino).

With the Restoration the Castle returned to the Savoy. Carlo Alberto had it remodeled and promoted many works in Moncalieri, including the foundation of the Real Collegio. Between the City and Turin the omnibus service was inaugurated and, in 1848, the railway. Moncalieri was the first center around the capital to possess electric lighting (1887), while the inauguration of the municipal aqueduct dates back to 1909. In particular, an important historical moment is linked to the City and to the Castle: the signature, in 1849, of the famous Proclamation of Moncalieri, with which Victor Emmanuel II addressed the Parliament to accept the conditions imposed by Austria for peace.

Gone is the era of the elegant court life, the hillside villas were less frequented by the nobility and some totally reunite their agricultural vocation. The economy of the city was based for centuries, as well as on trade, on agriculture. Its vineyards, in particular, were known and produced fine wines, and the olive tree was also cultivated, from which a highly appreciated oil derived. From the mid-nineteenth century the local economy was renewed thanks to the development of numerous industrial activities. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Moncalieri was also a place of leisure, favorite for walks in the hills and for trips on the Po, with hotels, trattorias, restaurants for the then rising Sunday tourism. In the Twenties, the territory of Revigliasco was incorporated into the Commune, whose history dates back to the Middle Ages and which was autonomous until the provisions in the Fascist era. In the twenty years of fascism, the City experienced the events that sadly united the whole country.

In recent times, the municipal territory - especially the flat part - has been affected by the industrial development of Turin and has shared its destinies: factories, vast residential areas, new roads, massive immigration fro provinces of Piedmont, then from other regions of Italy - especially from the South - and today from abroad. The industry, primarily linked to mechanics, has developed and qualified also in the direction of research, prototyping of the car and industrial design: the industrial vocation of the city is now clearly expressed. But wisely, various specializations in horticulture and floriculture have also been preserved. Vegetable gardens and greenhouses still dot the hill and those hamlets that have maintained their ancient attitude.