in Val Pellice

The remains of the Bigliori’s castle of Luserna are just beyond the town of Bobbio Pellice, just walked through the valley of Crϋel, in a hamlet called Cestel (or Ciëstel, according to some old sources), and still called Ciastel. The name recalls, in fact, the word "castle" and refers to the ancient manor of counts Bigliori, a cadet branch of the most powerful Manfredi of Luserna.

There are no known sources about the origins of this building (probably before the year 1159), but there are historical documentary sources about the castle. It was destroyed in 1549 by order of the Neapolitan prince Giovanni Galeazzo Caracciolo of Melfi, governor of Piedmont for on behalf of the King of France, who ordered, on January 9, 1549, to Captain Angelo de Pedemonte, the destruction of the rest of the castle of Bricherasio and also of the fortresses of the Tower, of Bobbio and Luserna.

Bibliography

• BOLLEA L.C., Storia di Bricherasio, Torino, 1928, p. 525
• GAROLA D.L., Documenti Istorici di Luserna e dei luoghi di sua valle compilati da Domenico Lorenzo Garola, 1832, p. 217