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La panchina Fucsia
Big Bench n° 175 – Levone
Acini E Rose Guest House

The visit to this bench takes you to a different area of the Canavese, the one further west, also defined as Alto Canavese: from ACINI E ROSE it can be reached in about half an hour by car.

Before arriving at your destination, you will pass through a foothill area that is decidedly not "bucolic" and, indeed, has a strong industrial vocation: it is our "little Ruhr", an area with a very high concentration of automotive companies, from which 70% of Italian hot-pressed steel and 10% of European one!
A story that has its roots in the late 19th century and is worth telling.

Once you arrive in Levone, cross the small town following the fuchsia signs, take the uphill dirt road that begins to enter the woods and in a few minutes you will be "at altitude" ... among neat rows of vines literally torn from the hill and small "ciabots" in stone.

And now we'll explain where you are and what you see from up there, once you sit on the FUCHSIA BIG BENCH!

Following the horizon, from the east, you can see the Po hills and then the city of Turin. Continuing, the view is gradually interrupted by the nearest hilly and mountainous reliefs which, however, behind them, allow a glimpse of Monviso, the king of stone. What you see at your feet is Levone, known as the town of the "masche" which, in Piedmontese, means "witches".

To understand the origin of this name we must go back to the summer of 1474, when a trial was instituted against four local women: Antonia De Alberto, Francesca Viglone, Bonaveria Viglone and Margarota Braya. On the list of accomplices there were 31 people, almost all women, from Rivara, Forno, Busano, Barbania, Rocca, Corio and other neighboring towns.

The evidence of the charges against the four Levonese women was shocking, the list included evil acts and causes of death against 23 children, against adults, livestock and various accidents. The concreteness of the "evidence" was contained in the phrase repeated obsessively for each accusation: "And this is true, notorious, manifest, as demonstrated by fame and public voice." Having confessed their sins, the accused were entrusted to the secular arm, that is, to the stake.

Antonia and Francesca were handed over to the mayor of the town and on 7 November 1474 they were burned alive in Prà Quazoglio di Levone, on the border with Barbania; the third accused, Bonaveria, was again subjected to trial in January 1475: nothing else appears from her papers, but her subsequent torture is probable. The luckiest, or most astute, was Margarota, who fled at the beginning of the trial and was never found again.


Returning, however, to the territorial context, a dense network of paths winds through the area, which can be traveled on foot or by mountain bike.

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