Magnano

Magnan

The land of the village is vast and covers the small hills and the morainic depressions of Serra, bordered on the North by the small streams Prajasse, Parogno and Valle Sorda. The centre of the village is located on the side of a hillock next to the parish church, the cimitery and where was erected the mediaeval Ricetto. Magnano (locus o fondus Magnani) was in the old days inhabited by coppersmiths. This is mentioned in a contract renewed in February 1166 between the iron workers and the Clergy of S. Eusebius of Vercelli.

Magnano was a feud of Vercelli’s Bishops and they invested the Avogadro from Cerrione, including  the village of Zimone, therefore becoming part of  Cerrione’ s Castle. In 1204, the Republic of Vercelli created a new free village called “borgo Pietro” and gave order to destroy the old village and move the inhabitants. But this did not happened and only later, after being submitted to Casa Savoia (1373), the people from Magnano abandoned the old village to build on the hill around the Ricetto.

 
Magnano was an important village in the past, but unfortunately the population has been decreasing for various reasons, especially emigration. There were little or no working activities: some carpenters, blacksdmiths and cobblers, agriculture was very poor and gave little to support the families. Most of the emigrants worked in the construction business following family traditions of passing on the profession from father to son. In the last century the demographic decrease is striking. In 1901 the residents were 2034, in 1961 only 611 to arrive at 340 in 2001. This depopulation is due in part to the exodus, but also to ageing without a generational replacement

The migratory flux can be divided in two great directions: first the men to France, Algeria, Switzerland, North and South America; a second internal seasonal flux by the women to the rice fields of Vercelli, to work hard and heavily for a month, fourty days. The move toward Turin was heavy starting from the ‘30s, increasing more after the war. Mostly they were bricklayers coming back on Saturday night and leaving on Sunday night.

. The biographies of the Magnanesi are 139, 7.6% of the inhabitants in 1911. 68.1% emigrated to the United States, 20.8% to France, 3.5% to Africa, 2.8% to South America, 2.1% to Switzerland and 2.7% to other European countries.The family names most common are Cullati, Flecchia, Tamagno, Ottino, Carrera e Broglio. The oldest emigrant is Felice Giletti, born in 1861 and emigrated in the United States in 1903.