Carmagnola

Carmagnola lies south of Turin on the right bank of the Po. First mentioned in the eleventh century, it was a possession of the marquises of Saluzzo and it acquired a castle and became a contested stronghold between Savoy and France. Its surrounding fields later supported a thriving trade in hemp and ropes, exported toward Liguria and southern France.

Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy besieged and captured Carmagnola in 1588. During the civil war of 1637–42 French forces again held the town, and three suburbs were demolished because they interfered with its defences, then rebuilt farther away. The French general Catinat occupied Carmagnola in 1690, but Victor Amadeus II recovered it the following year. As the defences were dismantled, agriculture and commerce gained greater prominence.