wido_piemonte

One of many christianized stones of the area is still visible on face of the church of Villa del Foro, a small village near Alessandria, big center in prehistoric, celtic and roman times. Object of cult but expecially object of superstition is dedicated to the holy woman called Varena that in many legends saved the stone and the village from the pagan cults. Is not sure if it was a menhir or an altar stone.

Pera Crevolà“, means in dialect “riddled stone”. It’s near Mattie Municipality (TO – I), 25 minutes walking from the Menolzio village (Val Susa, Torino Province). The altitude is 950 m.
This incredible rock is not very big (150 x 170 cm), but it’s totally covered by engravings: 237 cup-marks, 13 channels and 5 crosses.

Lugnacco’s menhir is another one of the 3 (Chivasso, Mazzè, Lugnacco) similar menhir in this area. This is the smaller one (3.85 m tall) and it’s placed outside the small cemetery of the village, I don’t know if this is the original position.
There are some holes on it. In my opinion this engravings are newer than the menhir, but I don’t know.

Sant’alosio is a little village on the top af an high hill on the south/east of Piedmont. The rocks are partially covered by the eastern tower and also by lots of vegetation, but you can still see some cup marks expecially in winter without snow. Some cups looks very old and little, one is bigger (20 cm) and, I think, more recent. From this place you have a great 360° view, you can see all the western Alps, Ligurian Appennino and hills.

Chivasso’s menhir is one of 3 (Chivasso, Mazzè, Lugnacco) similar menhir survived trhough the centuries, part of bigger group in these area.
It’s 4 meters tall, it have a cup mark on it (and 2 holes made in medieval times) and now it’s conserved in a big glass box in a central square (piazza d’Armi) in Chivasso. The exact original position is not known.
Recently, the local historian Prof. Luciano Dell’Olmo recognized the importance of the piece and the town administration decided to restore it.

This valley it’s full of engraved rocks, and every years new sites are found.
Some of the most important rocks (cup marks, anthropomorphic figures, crosses and strange tables) are situated along the so called “Way of the souls” path (Sentiero delle Anime) near the village of Traversella (Torino). From prehistoryc times untill the the last centuries local alpine culture is rapresented here on the rocks: cup marks, anthropomorphic figures are the most ancient engravings, most of the rocks were cristianised with crosses.

Another important site (not rapresented here) in this valley is the “Pera dij Cros” (it means “Rock of the crosses” in piedmonteis) where it is possible to notice many prehistoric anthropomorphic figures.

“La Pietra della vita” (The Stone of life) is a big natural stone, glacial erratic, in Oropa near Biella. The stone is still visible on the backside of the shrine and it was object of strong fertility cults in the ancient times. The cult survived untill the christian era but christianized with a lot of crosses engraved on it first, than with a chapel built on it.