Overview
The ancient Castrum Cadillianum, an important Roman military outpost built on previous Ligurian settlements, developed in a strategic trading position along the roads joining Asti with Terruggia, and Turin with Lomellina.
The Castle of Calliano, surrounded by high walls and a large deep moat, was a truly impregnable fortress. The town is now clustered around the mass of tuff stone, on which the main building once stood.
The village streets contain clues as to the history of this location: the series of churches, all located within a few hundred metres of each other, tell the story of many centuries.
The Romanesque Church of St Peter, first mentioned in a document from 866, is certainly the oldest and was probably the first parish church.
The Holy Name of Mary, a church in the upper part of the village, has an 18th-century floor plan, although there was a basilica dedicated to St Mary as early as 999.
Now reduced to a ruin, the Church of St Felix, Martyr is mentioned in a document dating from 1296, while the modern parish church of St Desiderius originally belonged to a Benedictine monastery, which was abandoned around 1300.
Dating back to the 15th century is the former church of the Annunciation, now used as a village hall.
The sixteenth century was also a golden age for the religious architecture of Calliano, which saw the construction of many churches and chapels during this time.
Calliano Monferrato is also known for the various equipped trekking routes, mountain bike trails and horse riding centres, and the Pirenta, sulphurous spring, famous for its healing and purifying virtues and for the characteristic "Palio Ragliante", its traditional donkey race.
