San Damiano d'Asti 

A History on the Border With Langhe, Roero and Monferrato

Our city develops on a low hill on the left side of the Borbone stream and it’s composed by three big hamlets which have extended around the historic center: the village of Rondò, the Piano village and the village of San Rocco. Among the vineyards, numerous are the farmhouses and the village’s fractions that meet.

A choice of the municipality of Asti

The city of San Damiano d’Asti was born in 1275 by the will of the municipality of Asti. In fact the inhabitants of Asti, after the win on the Angioini in Roccavione, destroyed all of their enemies strongholds, putting under attack Alba and knocking down all of Astixio’s castles, which was a powerful municipality on the left side of the Tanaro, guilty of having allied themselves with Carlo d’Angiò. In the consortile the Garetti Ghibellines had fiefs and in particular the castles of Gorzano, Castelnuovo and Lavezzole.

The village of Marcellengo

Today called Torrazzo, is held by the Benedictnes but of Asti influence. All these defences were destroyed by the Astigians who took advantage of the victory over the Angevins to eliminate the ambitious neighbour: they imposed on the vanquished the construction of a nova villa in the friendly territory of marcellengo dismantling the old fortress. They choose the plain where the ancient market was already held and where the little Church of San Damiano was.

A perfect geometry

The perfect geometry of the historic center, tell u show the Astigians wanted to build a defensive oppidum, to protect themselves towards Alba: the fortified villa nova is rapidly populated, turning in one of the strongest in Asti’s defensive system. San Damiano remained tied to Asti, almost a ‘’extra muros’’ village, and in the following centuries it followed the ups and downs of the many struggles. Following the peace of Cherasco in 1631, San Damiano passed to many famous people until the end of the XIX century.