Borgo del Piazzo

Biella's oldest neighbourhood climbs a hill west of the modern city and preserves a medieval street plan that most Piedmontese towns lost centuries ago. Founded by a bishop, enriched by wool merchants, crowned with noble palazzi and framed by porticoes, the Borgo del Piazzo is an important part of Biella's historic centre.

Why it matters

The Piazzo is one of the rare medieval quarters in Piedmont whose original layout has survived essentially intact. The city's administrative centre moved downhill to Biella Piano in the 17th century, and that quiet retreat froze the borgo in its medieval form: low arcades, narrow cobbled lanes, and residences stretched along the ridge of the hill. The quarter brings together the history of a northern Italian hill town: episcopal foundation, merchant wealth and noble residences. The quarter is also the frame for several of Biella's key monuments, including the church of San Giacomo and the palazzi of the old aristocracy.

What to notice

Piazza Cisterna is the sloping centre of the borgo. The thirteenth-century church of San Giacomo and Palazzo Gromo di Ternengo face a smaller square nearby. Noble residences along Corso del Piazzo include: Palazzo Scaglia, Palazzo dei principi Dal Pozzo dalla Cisterna, Palazzo Lamarmora, Palazzo Ferrero and Palazzo Gromo Losa. The houses are built of river pebbles and brick and align in long rows rather than around a single square. Elevated views of the city and surrounding hills are available from: the bridge on Via Avogadro, the public gardens De Genova and the gardens of Palazzo Ferrero over the city, and Piazza Cucco, which looks towards the surrounding hills, including the Parco della Burcina, famous for its rhododendron bloom in May.

Context and history

The borgo was founded in 1160 by Uguccione, Bishop of Vercelli, who needed a secure residence at a time when fighting between factions had made Vercelli unsafe. He granted privileges to settlers, and the new hilltop town grew quickly into a centre of commerce and administration, powered in later centuries by Biella's wool trade and the merchant families who built its palazzi. When the seat of government moved down to Biella Piano in the 17th century, the Piazzo lost political importance and gained a strange benefit: nobody rebuilt it. The medieval plan, the porticoes and the aristocratic residences therefore survived side by side into the present, and the quarter remains an important historic part of the city.