Discover Bandita

Bandita offers several distinct starting points for a stay: Baroque religious buildings, a Romanesque church and places of remembrance, as well as a named route into the valley of the Rio Meri. When planning your trip, you can first decide whether to focus on architectural history, remembrance of the resistance or the landscape. The following places offer specific points of interest for each.

Churches and architectural history

Construction of the Church of Santa Croce began in 1834; its bell tower was built later, between 1859 and 1870. The church is Baroque and has a monumental three-storey façade and a tall tower. The dates distinguish the start of the church’s construction from the later building of the tower. The façade’s three-part design is an architectural feature to look out for; the tall bell tower forms another striking part of the building.

Another Baroque landmark is the Oratorio di San Rocco. It has a Baroque façade and houses a statue of Saint Roch. The Oratorio is also the seat of a confraternity that is still active. Santa Croce and San Rocco therefore offer two different points of interest: at Santa Croce, the focus is on the monumental façade, the tower and the building’s history; at the Oratorio, the Baroque exterior, the statue and the confraternity that remains active come together.

Church and places of remembrance

At the intersection of della Madonnina in Bandita di Cassinelle stands the church of the Confraternita di San Giovanni, a Romanesque religious building of considerable historical and architectural significance. In contrast to the Baroque façades of Santa Croce and San Rocco, its Romanesque classification offers a different architectural point of reference. This makes it possible to distinguish between the different styles represented among Bandita’s religious buildings.

A memorial plaque near the Confraternita di San Giovanni commemorates partisans and civilians killed in Nazi reprisals in October 1944. A marble monument in Bandita also commemorates partisan commander Luciano Scassi. The historical context is the Nazi-Fascist raid of October 1944: its first clash took place in the area of Bandita di Cassinelle, where six partisans from the “Giustizia e libertà” group were captured. The plaque, the marble monument and the events each provide a different point of reference for engaging with the history of the partisans and civilian population.

Landscape and remembrance trail

Sentiero 561 leads into a valley through which the Rio Meri flows. This adds a landscape-related point of interest alongside the religious buildings and places of remembrance: the trail leads into a valley identified by the name of its river.

The proposed remembrance trail “I Sentieri della Libertà” also offers a distinct way to explore the area. It can be travelled by car or by bicycle for amateur cyclists, and leads to the three important places of Piancastagna, Bandita di Cassinelle and Olbicella. While Sentiero 561 is associated with the valley of the Rio Meri, “I Sentieri della Libertà” focuses on remembrance across several places. When planning your trip, you can therefore choose between a focus on the landscape and a route specifically designed around remembrance.

Discover more destinations: Silvano D'orba, Pontecurone, Masio, Predosa, Terranova, Ozzano Monferrato, Cassinelle, Cremolino.

For the overview of the wider area: Alessandria.