Description
Pecetto was founded in the distant past, in 1224, as we read in the Libro Rosso (Red Book) of the municipality of Chieri.
To defend the western section of its territory, Chieri enclosed the hill, 410 metres high, thus forming a refuge. The defensive central point was the imposing Tower, 22 metres high and with walls 2 metres thick, which still dominates the town centre with its striking crown of almond trees and evergreen cypresses adorning the highest point. The toponym ‘Pecetto’ already existed before the town came into being, referring either to a type of tree (Pinus picea, fir) or to the plots of land (pecia) typical of the area.
Pecetto owes something of its fame to a lovely, if purely imaginative, depiction in the Theatrum Sabaudiae, the great book in celebration of the Savoy dukedom, printed in Amsterdam in 1682 and distributed all over Europe, especially in the courts of the various States.
This splendid volume also shows one of Pecetto’s main boasts of the time: the Eremo dei Camaldolesi (Hermitage of the Camaldolites), built by Charles Emanuel I from 1602 in fulfilment of a vow he had made during the time of the plague; it was inhabited by a fine monastic community who within its buildings held possession of valuable works of art, some of which are still to be seen in the present-day parish church, while others are in farmhouses on Pecetto territory.
The hermitage community was annulled and plundered after the Napoleonic laws on the suppression of religious Orders, and the building was subsequently almost completely destroyed. All that remains to bear witness to the splendour of the past is the belfry, the guests’ chapel, one monk’s cell, the laundry and the apothecary’s laboratory/infirmary.
To defend the western section of its territory, Chieri enclosed the hill, 410 metres high, thus forming a refuge. The defensive central point was the imposing Tower, 22 metres high and with walls 2 metres thick, which still dominates the town centre with its striking crown of almond trees and evergreen cypresses adorning the highest point. The toponym ‘Pecetto’ already existed before the town came into being, referring either to a type of tree (Pinus picea, fir) or to the plots of land (pecia) typical of the area.
Pecetto owes something of its fame to a lovely, if purely imaginative, depiction in the Theatrum Sabaudiae, the great book in celebration of the Savoy dukedom, printed in Amsterdam in 1682 and distributed all over Europe, especially in the courts of the various States.
This splendid volume also shows one of Pecetto’s main boasts of the time: the Eremo dei Camaldolesi (Hermitage of the Camaldolites), built by Charles Emanuel I from 1602 in fulfilment of a vow he had made during the time of the plague; it was inhabited by a fine monastic community who within its buildings held possession of valuable works of art, some of which are still to be seen in the present-day parish church, while others are in farmhouses on Pecetto territory.
The hermitage community was annulled and plundered after the Napoleonic laws on the suppression of religious Orders, and the building was subsequently almost completely destroyed. All that remains to bear witness to the splendour of the past is the belfry, the guests’ chapel, one monk’s cell, the laundry and the apothecary’s laboratory/infirmary.