The house of the Hoopoe, owes its name to the presence of nests of the bird, and is located in the valley of the Savio River, at the foot of the ancient castle of Sorrivoli. The house was bought in the ‘60s by Ilario Fioravanti, architect, sculptor, designer, engraver and writer, to create his own shelter and for his works. Among his personal and artistic relationships there were the architects Giovanni Michelucci and Pier Luigi Nervi; critics like Giovanni Testori, Antonio Paolucci and Vittorio Sgarbi, the poet Tonino Guerra, the well-known psychiatric Vittorino Andreoli, who defined Ilario Fioravanti’s house as the place “where the characters he created welcome him. Characters he can caress. Here he re-finds his memory. Because, by now, it is made only by his clay artefacts”. Married in advanced age with Adele Briani, he lived a positive turn. An artist’s garden with many bronze works and a large depot with hundreds of sculpture and paper works, complete the house-museum.

Casa Cavassa is probably one of the most representative Renaissance buildings in Saluzzo. It was the residence of a noble family native of Carmagnola, who rapidly gained the Marquises of Saluzzo’s favour in the 15th century. In 1464 Galeazzo Cavassa was appointed General Vicar of the Marquisate and then the office passed down to his son Francesco, who commissioned renovation works that transformed the house in a splendid palace. In 1883 Casa Cavassa was bought by Emanuele Tapparelli D’Azeglio, a diplomat and art collector. The palace was restored following the 19th-century principle known as "completion according to style": everything that didn't date back to the Renaissance was removed and replaced by works of art and antiques dating back to the 15th and 16th century. In 1888, according to D'Azeglio's will, who wanted to turn it into a museum, Casa Cavassa became the property of the town of Saluzzo. In 1890 the civic museum was first opened to the public. Even today the white marble portal and the sculpted front door (1518-1528), attributed to the sculptor Matteo Sanmicheli from Lombardia, bear witness to the splendour of this palace at the beginning of the 16th century. On one of the walls of the internal loggia you can admire some grisaille frescoes by Hans Clemer, a famous Flemish painter who worked in the Marquisate from 1496 to 1511. The paintings (1506-1511) depict seven of the famous Labours of Hercules. Underneath the balcony, above the mullioned windows, you can note a frescoed decorative band portraying the signs of the zodiac. Currently the tour route consists of 15 rooms full of art collections, including the altarpiece "Our Lady of Mercy", a masterpiece painted in 1499-1500 by Hans Clemer.