Zubiena

Zubien-a

Going back in time, we know for sure that the territory of Zubiena was part of the region occupied by the Ictimuli, famous gold prospectors in the Bessa and the nearby areas. An other element of beauty is the ancient murenic formation of Serra with its agricultural-pastoral aspect, but with harsh land difficult to coltivate. These two elements, Bessa and Serra, divide the village into two separate centres present since Medioeval times:

 Villa, placed on the murenic hill and the very old village located in the heart of Bessa. They are two different realities and in each of them, certainly before the year 1000, did rise two churches serving as religious and civil centres. In 1434 Duke Amedeo of Savoy awarded the lands of Zubiena to the Avogadro’s family.

  
Super Intendent Blanciotti, in his report on Zubiena in 1755, wrote: “this feoff belongs to Vice-Count Carlo Luigi of Gattinara; its land produces wine of inferior quality, rye, legumes, hay, chestnuts, but all this does not correspond to the needs of the inhabitants … they turn to commerce …. management of the abundant timbers which they sell to Biella, during the time of harvest of grains and rice they descend on to the Vercellese land …. thus improving their life”. The artisan activitiesd of 140 silk cocoons, two silk looms, five hemp looms and two iron jacks were also registered.

At the beginning of the XIX century the demographic increase pushed the population to move and the Zubienesi, as other fellow-countrymen, started to emigrate toward Turin and abroad, to France. The area of Lyon was for a century the little America for the Zubienesi. As for the entire Biellese community, the construction sector was the one attracting the most to emigrate. The emigration between the end of 1800 and the first part  of 1900 was mostly permanent:

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Serra in general became impoverished with the departure of the young people. Human resources of energy and creativity necessary for a more balanced socio-economical and cultural growth, went missing. Attraction for strong areas did determine a continous exodus, different though from the migratory fenomena of the end of the century.

The biographical cards of the migrants from Zubiena are 147, 6.5% of the inhabitants in 1911. 82.6% went to France, followed by 8.2% to Switzerland, 3.8% to Africa, 2.7% to South America, 1.6% to the United States and 1.1% to other European states. The most frequent family names are Verdoia, Vercellino, De Bernardi or Debernardi, Baietto, Detoma and Quaglino. The oldest emigrant is Cesare Ferrero, born in 1818, bricklayer in France.