COMUNE DI MONASTERO DI LANZO

Comune
Monastero di Lanzo (Mounësté) owes its name to the presence, around the year 1000, of a small priory of Benedictine nuns, called Santa Anastasia, dependent on the Abbey of San Mauro di Pulcherada, although small human settlements were certainly already present in pre-Roman times.
The Benedictines gave impetus to cultivation and the exploitation of existing resources, also by building dry-stone walls to terrace the slopes and by creating a network of paths that linked the villages with the high-altitude pastures.
Evidence of this presence can be seen in the Romanesque bell tower of the Gézia parish church. The bell tower is also stylised in the four-part coat of arms of the municipality, together with a fir tree, a chestnut tree and a cow grazing on a grassy field.

In the Middle Ages, the fate of the community was united with that of the Castellania of Lanzo, to which it belonged. In 1724 Monastero was enfeoffed to the Giriodi family, Lords of Costigliole Saluzzo, who were given the title of Counts.
In 1862 Monastero assumed the attribute "di Lanzo" to avoid homonyms.

Since 1880 there has been a progressive depopulation, linked to the impoverishment of a local economy based mainly on agriculture, and the population has fallen from about 2000 inhabitants at that time to the current few hundred, divided into twenty or so small settlements that occupy for the most part a large mountain amphitheatre at the centre of which is Gézia, the municipal capital. The architecture is typical of Alpine villages, with huts built or renovated in stone and wood, while the numerous religious buildings bear witness to the faith of the past, preserving ancient and precious artistic memories. Forests, on the other hand, cover most of the municipal territory.

The profound faith of the people who populated the town is still witnessed today by the presence of Romanesque bell towers, churches, chapels, sanctuaries and votive pillars that preserve ancient and precious artistic memories.
Among them, La Gézia, a parish church dedicated to Santa Anastasia, stands out. Its origins date back to the 12th century, when Benedictine monks decided to build a Romanesque bell tower, probably next to a chapel, which can still be admired today.
The parish church dedicated to St John the Evangelist, built in the 18th century, stands on a hill overlooking the village of Chave. It was erected in the 18th century and is an excellent vantage point over the Lanzo Valleys and the Turin plain. It is connected to the small square below by a scenic stone staircase with 85 steps.
The sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption was built in the mid-18th century on the mountains of the Marsaia locality, at an altitude of 1350 metres. One of the perimeter walls bears the date "1771", but it is certainly an extension of an older place of worship. Its foundation is linked to the legend that, several centuries ago, a beautiful woman appeared to a deaf-mute shepherdess on top of an ash tree and healed her. The mountain people identified her with the Madonna and decided to build the chapel, which took seven years to complete.
Contacts
Frazione Capoluogo, 43, 10070 Monastero di Lanzo (TO)

45.3014734, 7.4400339