Lanzo

Lanzo stands northwest of Turin at the eastern mouth of the mountain valleys that bear its name. Mentioned in the early eleventh century, it belonged at different times to the bishop of Turin, the House of Savoy and the marquises of Montferrat. Its castle became one of the principal strongholds of Piedmont.

French troops under Charles de Brissac stormed and destroyed the castle in 1551–52. After the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, Lanzo returned to Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy. It later passed to his daughter Maria and the Este family, under whom the town and its valleys lost many of their earlier privileges and fell into decline. In 1792, after its feudal lords died out, Lanzo returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia.