Comune
In Roman times, the Via delle Gallie, the Roman consular road built by Augustus to connect the Po Valley with Gaul, passed through Carema. The toponym Carema would in fact derive from the Latin expression ad quadragesimum lapidem ab Augusta Praetoria (it. ’forty miles from Aosta’), denoting an origin of the village after the foundation of Aosta by the Romans.
The Roman village was also mansiones, i.e. seat of a military garrison, and a mining site with a small copper mine and warehouse belonging to Caius Sallustius Crispus, nephew of the historian Sallust.
In the Middle Ages, Carema was assigned with an imperial diploma to the Bishop of Ivrea, who invested the Ugoni da Brescia, also lords of the castle of Castruzzone (Castrum Ugonis), with the fiefdom: they based their power on the right to toll collection, but distinguished themselves by spoliation and harassment. In 1171, the Marquises of Monferrato managed to extend their influence there and administer the toll right, despite the opposition of the Eporiedese bishop.
In 1313, the Savoy extended their control over Ivrea and part of Canavese; in 1357, Amadeus VI received the lands and castles of the Dora Baltea Valley, including Carema and Castruzzone, as a perpetual feud from the Bishop of Ivrea. From this moment on, the history of Carema is linked to the Savoys, who over the centuries ceded ownership to local noble families (the De Jordanis of Montalto, the Vallesa, the Counts of Challant) until 1797, when Charles Emmanuel IV abolished feudal rights.
The Savoy incorporated the territory into the Duchy of Aosta and then reincorporated it into Canavese in the second half of the 16th century.
Fascism reintegrated it into the province of Aosta; Carema returned to Piedmont with the Republic.
Local wine production and fine rural architecture are the peculiarities of Carema.
The thousand-year-old wine culture and the important agricultural and wine-growing activity, of which the prized D.O.C. CAREMA is the symbol, lie within the typical and unique environment. These are the Nebbiolo vineyards. The vines are elevated pergola-trained, but of a special type found only here and in a few neighbouring municipalities. Real stone columns, complete with capitals, support the wooden frames that support the vine shoots. Upstream, the dry stone walls have a dual function: to create the terracing, and to mitigate the night chill of early autumn.
Added to this magnificent and evocative natural amphitheatre is an historic centre that has retained its own specificity that is difficult to find elsewhere. Walking through the narrow, winding alleyways that run along the old stone walls of the houses, one can discover the ancient fountains that embellish the intersections of some of the streets, buildings of notable historical and architectural importance, and characteristic corners, enhanced by stone portals and wooden balconies, that revive rural traditions.
The Roman village was also mansiones, i.e. seat of a military garrison, and a mining site with a small copper mine and warehouse belonging to Caius Sallustius Crispus, nephew of the historian Sallust.
In the Middle Ages, Carema was assigned with an imperial diploma to the Bishop of Ivrea, who invested the Ugoni da Brescia, also lords of the castle of Castruzzone (Castrum Ugonis), with the fiefdom: they based their power on the right to toll collection, but distinguished themselves by spoliation and harassment. In 1171, the Marquises of Monferrato managed to extend their influence there and administer the toll right, despite the opposition of the Eporiedese bishop.
In 1313, the Savoy extended their control over Ivrea and part of Canavese; in 1357, Amadeus VI received the lands and castles of the Dora Baltea Valley, including Carema and Castruzzone, as a perpetual feud from the Bishop of Ivrea. From this moment on, the history of Carema is linked to the Savoys, who over the centuries ceded ownership to local noble families (the De Jordanis of Montalto, the Vallesa, the Counts of Challant) until 1797, when Charles Emmanuel IV abolished feudal rights.
The Savoy incorporated the territory into the Duchy of Aosta and then reincorporated it into Canavese in the second half of the 16th century.
Fascism reintegrated it into the province of Aosta; Carema returned to Piedmont with the Republic.
Local wine production and fine rural architecture are the peculiarities of Carema.
The thousand-year-old wine culture and the important agricultural and wine-growing activity, of which the prized D.O.C. CAREMA is the symbol, lie within the typical and unique environment. These are the Nebbiolo vineyards. The vines are elevated pergola-trained, but of a special type found only here and in a few neighbouring municipalities. Real stone columns, complete with capitals, support the wooden frames that support the vine shoots. Upstream, the dry stone walls have a dual function: to create the terracing, and to mitigate the night chill of early autumn.
Added to this magnificent and evocative natural amphitheatre is an historic centre that has retained its own specificity that is difficult to find elsewhere. Walking through the narrow, winding alleyways that run along the old stone walls of the houses, one can discover the ancient fountains that embellish the intersections of some of the streets, buildings of notable historical and architectural importance, and characteristic corners, enhanced by stone portals and wooden balconies, that revive rural traditions.
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