Cavour (; from the

Piedmontese Piedmontese ( ; autonym: or ; ) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regarded as an Italian ...

toponym, ''Cavor'' ; ) is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the prov ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

region

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, located about southwest of

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. Cavour borders the following municipalities: Macello, Vigone, Bricherasio, Garzigliana,

Villafranca Piemonte Villafranca Piemonte is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 35 km southwest of Turin. Villafranca Piemonte borders the following municipalities: Vigone, Pancalieri, Ca ...

, Campiglione-Fenile, Bibiana, Bagnolo Piemonte,

Barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

History

Its ancient Roman name was ''Caburrum'' or ''Forum Vibii''. Cavour lies on the north side of a huge isolated mass of granite (the ''Rocca di Cavour'') which rises from the plain. On the summit was the Roman village, which belonged to the province of the Alpes Cottiae. There are some ruins of medieval fortifications. In 1422 Cavour was captured by Thomas of Savoy and passed into Savoyard hands until in 1433 the castle and its lordship was bestowed by Amadeus VIII to Louis of Achaea,the illegitimate son of

Louis of Piedmont Louis (1364 – 11 December 1418) was the Lord of Piedmont and titular claimant of the title of the Prince of Achaea from 1402. He was a son of James of Piedmont and Marguerite de Beaujeu (1346–1402). In 1405, he founded the University of Turin. ...

and his descendants the lords of Raconis.(

Racconigi Racconigi (; ) is a town and (municipality) in Piedmont, Italy. It is located in the province of Cuneo, south of Turin, and north of Cuneo by rail. History The town was founded in medieval times. It was a possession of the marquisses of Salu ...

) The area around was a stronghold of the Christian movement of the

Waldensians The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the l ...

who were persecuted for their faith, culminating in Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy engaging the Waldensians in battle; the attack was repelled through

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

. The duke was then forced to give the Waldensians a limited right to exercise their religion, recorded in the Treaty of Cavour (1561) Starting in 1592 and for several years during the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...

the town was occupied by François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières and thus controlling the movements in the area. The town gave its name to the Benso family of

Chieri Chieri (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo Torinese, Pino ...

, who were raised to the marquisate in 1771, and of which the statesman Cavour was a member.

People

Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri (; 10 August 1810 – 6 June 1861), generally known as the Count of Cavour ( ; ) or simply Cavour, was an Italian politician, Statesman (politician), statesman, Business ...

* Mauro Picotto

References

Cities and towns in Piedmont {{Turin-geo-stub