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Doctor and pharmaceutical manager, he dedicated himself to university teaching, writing and poetry. He spent time with Licinio Cappelli, Luchino Visconti and Federico Fellini and published the Trilogia (Diario Postumo, Miserere Dei and Il poeta muore), for which Pier Paolo Pasolini considered him one of the greatest writers of XX century. From 1969 to 1973 he restored the castle of Castiglione del Terziere, in the municipality of Bagnone in Lunigiana, ancient stronghold of the Malaspina family, in a land between Tuscany, Liguria and Emilia Romagna. “I want to recreate a place of memory, where taking back the souvenirs of my people and my land. Remember is a fact of civilization. The Italian word ricordare derives from cor-cordis: because the ancients believed the memory lived in the heart”. In the castle he founded the Centro di Studi Umanistici ‘Niccolò V’, the Libera Cattedra di Filologia e Polifonia Vocale and collected an extraordinary collection of documents: a library full of manuscripts, incunabula, first editions, great writers’ autographs, an archive of papers about the relationship between Florence and the Lunigiana between XIV and XVIII centuries, paints and archaeological findings.

It is only natural for the itinerary to start from here. As can be read on his birth certificate (written in French, since at that time the Municipality of Busseto was under the Department of Taro, directly annexed to France), Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, son of Carlo and Luigia Uttini, was born at eight o’clock in the evening on 10th October 1813. In this modest building, located at a crossroads in the centre of the village, his father ran an inn with an attached grocery store. His mother was a spinner.

As legend has it, because the yearly festivities for the feast of San Donino, the patron saint of the diocese, were underway at his birth, the music played by a group of strolling musicians was a good omen for the future of the newborn baby. According to recent studies, the Verdis were a family of small landowners who were not illiterate; often, in fact, the innkeeper read letters for those who could not. Hence, the legend of the poverty-stricken family, of the uneducated, poor little peasant, of the starving artist, later fuelled by the editor Ricordi, should be re-evaluated.

Yet, to this day, the most evocative place of Verdi, thanks to the important work of recovery and restoration begun in 2013, does not fail to touch the numerous visitors at the thought of the triumphant goals achieved by the composer. Verdi, however, never forgot his own origins and, in 1863, wrote: “I was, am and always will be a peasant from Roncole.” On the front of the house, a commemorative plaque from 1872 reminds us that the marquises Pallavicino, who were the owners, wanted the house to stay as it was. Over time, other commemorative plaques have been put up. One in particular should be recalled; that given by the poor of Roncole who were helped by the Maestro (1901). In 1913, the centennial of his birth, a bronze bust by G. Cantù was placed in the small garden in front of the house.  

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.

This small house-museum is inside an antique building called the ‘cappellania’. Its oldest part was erected in the late Middle-Ages. Mr. and Mrs. Zetti purchased it in the early 1970s and made it their country home. The renovation works took a long time to be completed as the intention was to preserve Italo’s memory, as well as the woodcuts, an ancient and noble art of engraving on wood (rarely practiced today), for future generations. Despite the renovations, the house retains its ancient aspect and decor and the varied furnishings give every room a unique and incomparable charm. In the ground floor rooms there are some photographs of the old Casore, pottery, copper furniture, household tools and other rustic objects of different origins and uses. On the first and second floors, we find an exhibition of typical, hand-crafted folk items, such as dolls, nativity figurines and even a well-preserved shaft from a farm in Romagna. Traditional crafts such as furniture, antique glass and porcelain objects, along with many contemporary artists’ works, such as the paintings by Italo’s brother, a large number of woodcuts, paintings, drawings, pottery and a hundred wooden matrices with the related engraving tools, are exhibited throughout the house. The museum presents an in-depth study of the artist’s activities as an engraver and his various xylographic techniques. Also worth a visit is the casa Severina next door, where an old print shop has been reconstructed and one can see a valuable collection of bookplates by Italo Zetti and other artists. Moreover, there is also a space set aside to host temporary exhibitions during the summer season. Finally, in the nearby Casa Pasqualina, you will find a typical chestnut dryer or ‘metato’, the only one left from the old Casore.