# Grugliasco

Grugliasco (Italian:; Piedmontese: Grujasch ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 9 kilometres (6 miles) west of Turin.
Grugliasco borders the municipalities of Turin, Collegno, and Rivoli. In 1945 here and in Collegno members of the retreating German 34th Infantry Division and 5th Mountain Division killed 68 civilians in retaliation for a partisan ambush.

## Origins of the name

The origin of the name could be derived from the predaural Gruglascum, Curlascum, from Currelio - ascum, the ancient name of the Roman settler to whom, at the time of the Roman centuriation of the western suburbs of Turin, was perhaps assigned part of these lands. Other scholars instead argue that the toponym refers to crane birds, which perhaps once stopped here during seasonal migrations. The fact is that the community of Grugliasco chose as a heraldic symbol for its coat of arms, attested for the first time in 1613, the bird called "gru".

## History

The first historical documents, however, date back to 1047, when Emperor Henry III the Black cites the canonical Chapter of the Cathedral of San Giovanni di Torino with the rights to the property owned, including the curtis Grugliascum, with the already existing church dedicated to San Cassiano di Imola, and the tenth paid to the Chapter by the inhabitants of the villa. This had developed over time, around the nucleus of property of the Turin canons, which corresponds to the current historic centre, next to the ancient church dedicated to San Cassiano. Despite the strong devotion that bound them to the ancient chapel, in 1599 the Grugliaschese placed themselves under the 'protection' of San Rocco[8] against the looming plague: San Rocco thus became the new patron saint of the country, and a church was dedicated to him, from which the township in which it was erected takes its name. The current appearance of the chapel is the result of the renovation carried out between 1826 and 1828 on a project by the architect Ignazio Michela. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the village called Grugliascum was included in the possessions of the Savoia-Acaia, until 1619, when the Duke of Savoy Carlo Emanuele Io erected as a county, infeudating it to the City of Turin. The Grugliaschese county, therefore, expanded, economically and geographically, throughout the seventeenth century, to the limits of an ancient city walls (killed in 1384 by the Torinesi.
The bealera of San Vito: Scarce are, however, the vestiges of the Late Middle Ages that are limited to the civic tower, and to a fresco (Madonna col Bambino) on the facade of San Cassiano. In addition, the non-existent irrigation of the territory, devoid of streams or rivers, led to a relatively slow urbanisation. The creation, in the fifteenth century, of a bealera still existing, and mostly buried and which is still used for the irrigation of the fields in Strada del Gerbido, determined a faster economic development of the village. The canal was derived from the Dora Riparia near Alpignano; after crossing Rivoli and Collegno, it reached as far as Grugliasco, near the ancient Chapel of San Vito (also from about 1450-1490), where it branched into two subchannels, the upper horn (towards the south) and the lower horn (towards the east). Grugliasco was subject to an epidemic of plague in the sixteenth century, and in the eighteenth century gained dignity and territorial independence from Turin. The water supply also led to the birth of a factory, around the sixteenth century, near Villa Valperga. Other spinning tops were then built along the upper horn, which took the name of via dei Filatoi. However, in the nineteenth century the seer economy suffered a serious crisis, due to mulberry disease and the predominance assumed by France in this particular textile sector.
Twentieth century: Grugliasco saw urban and industrial expansion at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the expansion towards the north, due above all to the Leumann cotton mill in Collegno and the relative fraction Fabbrichetta close to the same. The last industrial and urban expansion was due to the proximity to the FIAT Mirafiori factories, which made Grugliasco an industrial centre of the automotive industry: in fact the plants of Pininfarina, Bertone, Vignale, Westinghouse, Itca, Cimat arose. Recently (XXI century), only a few remain active, while both the freight exchange centre called "SITO Interporto di Torino" and the new Turin fruit and vegetable markets C.A.A.T. have established themselves in the industrial area.
Symbols: The coat of arms and banner were granted by decree of the President of the Republic of July 3, 1962. "In red, to the silver crane supported by a mountain of green, holding in the right paw the silver watch. Exterior ornaments from the municipality with the crown topped by another crane from the unfolded flight." The banner is a white drape richly adorned with silver embroidery.

## Monuments and places of interest

Civic tower: located in the city centre, in Piazza S. Cassiano, can be considered the symbol of Grugliasco. It was erected in the fifteenth century for defensive purposes, transformed into a Chappe telegraph after the passage of Napoleon and subsequently assuming the function of bell tower of the church behind S. Cassiano Church of S. Cassiano: millennial building, whose presence has been documented since the ninth century: it is located in the square of the same name and represents the main church of the city. Expanded and restored over the course of a century (from the end of the seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century), the church was interested in the construction of a facade only in 1881, entrusted to the classicist style of the engineer Ferrante. On this last occasion, the fresco still visible was found, belonging to a previous attempt to create a facade dating back to the fifteenth century. Church of the Holy Spirit (via Moncalieri, 77-79) Chapel of San Rocco: ancient sixteenth-century chapel, located at the beginning of Viale Gramsci, towards largo Polesine. It was dedicated to St. Rocco after the plague epidemic of 1599, an event that made the saint the patron saint of the city. The current aspect is attributable to nineteenth-century renovations Chapel of S. Vito: small chapel dating back to the end of the '400, located in Piazza Don Cocco, not far from S. Cassian. A fifteenth-century fresco representing Christ on the throne was recently discovered on the facade. Chapel of the Brotherhood of Santa Croce: placed behind the church of S. Cassiano, in via Giustetti, dates back to the last thirty years of the sixteenth century, but was heavily remodelled in Baroque style between 1767 and 1780. Villa Boriglione: can be visited from the entrance of via Lanza, from which its imposing city walls start. The villa, built at the beginning of the eighteenth century, is surrounded by a large park, since 2000 redeveloped into the Le Serre Cultural Park. Here there are various events, including music, exhibitions and cultural events of the city, in its basement you can visit the RiMu (Refuge / Museum) by the Cojtà Gruliascheisa Association. Villa Claretta Assandri: located, inside a large walled garden, in via La Salle, the villa was built in the second half of the seventeenth century and today houses the Museum of Great Turin and the Granata Legend. Villa Gay di Quarti: located in the central via Lupo, at number 87, it is a seventeenth-century villa, formerly part of a vast estate, which included a rustic and a huge park that also served as an orchard and a grove (in addition to housing a pond). The house and the rustics, recently restored to their splendour, are now part of a residential complex, while the green area behind has become the main urban park of Grugliasco (Parco Porporati). Villa Il Palazzo: located in the village of Gerbido, precisely in via Moncalieri 6, was built in the middle of the eighteenth century at the behest of Count Carlo di S. Martino, Marquis d'Agliè. Externally it has a long wall decorated with terracotta vases, inside which there is an entrance garden, a courtyard of honour and a farmhouse, the latter placed behind the villa. Villa Il Maggiordomo: also in Borgata Gerbido, ideally accessible from via Bertone, takes its name from the office of butler of Casa Savoia di Valeriano Napione, who had it built between 1675 and 1683. For the strong similarity of the building with Palazzo Carignano in Turin, some scholars attribute the architectural project to the famous Guarino Guarini. The villa is currently in a state of precarious structural preservation, awaiting adequate renovations. Villa Audifredi di Mortigliengo: in the "San Marcellino Champagnat" park of via Cotta there is what was born as a holiday residence in the seventeenth century, and then became, with the count from whom it takes its name and with the banker Giovanni Battista Barbaroux, an nineteenth-century setificio. In 1903 it was purchased and renovated by the Maristi Brothers, who make it a convent, while today it houses a centre for the elderly. Villa Sclopis or Il Barocchio: located between Gerbido and Borgata Lesna, in the Barocchio street, it belonged to the Counts Sclopis del Borgo, among whom are remembered the famous painter and engraver Ignazio, the literate Alessandro and the Minister Federigo (the latter is dedicated a street in Turin). The historic farmhouses: outside the central nucleus of the city, towards the borders with Turin, there are several farmhouses built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most still used today for agricultural activities. In Borgata Gerbido there are the Cascina Villanis (with baroque chapel and manor house called Villa Ceresole), the Cascina Mandina (with elegant baroque chapel outside the walls), the Cascina Duc (hosting the relics of Sant'Antero and today the seat of a farmhouse) and the Cascina Il Trotti (with eighteenth-century chapel). In the Antica si Grugliasco street there are instead the remains of the Cascina Armano (with an imposing villa, in a state of advanced degradation), the Cascina Il Quaglia (located in the homonymous village, which houses a few metres the residential complex, the baroque chapel of the SS. Annunziata and the old street portal of the Pronda) and the Cascina Astrua (with annexed chapel named after the Blessed Virgin Comforter). RiMu: underground air-raid shelter of the Second World War, with an original capacity of 75 people, and an annexed Grugliaschesità Museum, in Villa Boriglione, in the Le Serre Cultural Park. The site is managed by the cultural association "Cojtà Gruliascheisa", known as the creator of the Palio della Gru since 1984. Interprovincial Institute for Mental Infirms "Vittorio Emanuele III" (former psychiatric hospital).

## Culture

Starting in 2001, Grugliasco began to establish itself as one of the main training centres of the Contemporary Circus nationwide. The Le Serre park hosts a contemporary circus school throughout the year and in summer the international contemporary circus exhibition "Sul Filo del Circo/Au Fil du Cirque", which has now become the largest Italian event completely dedicated to the contemporary circus.
- Museums In Grugliasco there are: The Gianduja Museum. The Museum of the Great Turin and the Granata Legend, in Villa Claretta-Assandri. The Museum of Agriculture of Piedmont. The RiMu (Anti-Aircraft Refuge and Grugliaschesità Museum) at the Cultural Park "Le Serre".
Library The "Pablo Neruda" library in Grugliasco was born on January 2, 1970, in a building originally belonged to the Maristi Brothers, a religious congregation. Starting from a single room, the library received three extensions, the last of which was in 2002. Its catalogue has been computerised since 1998, and it has entered the SBAM[14] since 2009.

## Traditions and folklore

Although St. Rocco is celebrated on August 16, since 2000 the ecclesiastical authority has allowed the Grugliaschesi to move the patronal feast to January 31, in memory of the first procession made to implore, through the intercession of the saint, the end of the pestilence. However, the main church is not named after St. Roch, but St. Cassianus. However, in memory of the end of the plague, every first Sunday of June, since 1984 the well-known Palio della Gru has been celebrated, organised by the Cojtà Gruliascheisa Association, which sees seven villages in the city compete, in a reevoking race of the monatti who towed the carts of the plague patients of 1599. The racing carts support a crane (symbol of the city), and travel a track in the historic centre; the Palio ends at a collective fair, on the weekend. The event is included in the "Travel in Time" circuit of the Province of Turin as a historical re-enactment.
Honours Silver Medal of Civil Merit "Small rural municipality of about eight thousand inhabitants, generously engaged in the partisan struggle, suffered a heinous massacre by Nazi troops who brutally slaughtered twenty heroic citizens, including young people not yet in their twenties. A bright example of a spirit of sacrifice and a deep faith in a free and democratic Italy".
City planning The west gate of Turin After World War II, Grugliasco est, bordering the municipality of Turin, was interested with the adjacent municipality of Collegno to the north, by the project of Corso Marche, a new boulevard that was to cross the suburbs of the city of Turin. Subsequently, Grugliasco was affected by the expansion of the south-est area, called Certezza zone (Corso Allamano/Strada antica di Grugliasco/Piccolo Hotel), and by the redevelopment of the nearby hamlet Gerbido, on the border with the Centro Europa area of the Mirafiori Nord district of Turin. The plan provided for the road connection of the current motorway ring road west of Turin, with the exits / exits of Rivoli, the railway station of Interporto "Sito", and Corso Allamano. In 2007, according to the intervention plan "Corso Marche" by the architects Augusto Cagnardi and Vittorio Gregotti[16], the northern area of Grugliasco becomes a superficial part of a series of multi-level tunnels: on the second basement level, the trains of the planned goods eaves of the high-speed railway (TAV) will pass, while on the surface course, roofed by these two tunnels, will be remodelled with standards common to the rest of the future course. In the municipality of Grugliasco the project will have slightly different characteristics than most of the intervention plan: The high-speed railway, in fact, from the border with the municipality of Turin will continue along the Torino-Modane - Interporto di Orbassano railway junction. Boulevard and underground highway, on the other hand, will continue their course along the area affected by via Crea up to the border with the municipality of Turin The project was rethought and greatly reduced by the municipalities concerned in 2018 and at the end of 2021 no specific construction site has yet started.

## International relations

Grugliasco is twinned with:
* Roman, Romania
* Barberà del Vallès, Spain
* Echirolles, France
* Gourcy, Burkina Faso
* San Gregorio Magno, Italy