Penthouse piazza Manuel di San Giovanni 9, Centro, Dronero

Dronero, its origin in the year 1150 from the union of the two primitive villages which, to protect themselves from the continuous incursions and looting, retreated to a triangle of land between the Maira and the Rio Rigamberto, then surrounding the new village with other walls still in place today visible parts. The oldest document that refers to Dronero dates back to 1155, in which a sale of some buildings by Enrico di Montemale in favor of the Staffarda Monastery was stipulated in Durcolium, attesting to the importance that the new nucleus had within a few years since its creation. It must have been large and important enough to have a notary or an office where sales contracts could be stipulated under the control of the Marquisate of Saluzzo, from the mid-13th century. Lasting for about four centuries, it led on the one hand to a favorable economic and cultural development, thanks to the contact with Provence, but on the other hand, given the bellicose character of Saluzzo, it involved the marquisate and consequently the Borgo, in continuous wars, in raids by mercenary troops, armies and in frequent sieges. The historian Giuseppe Manuel of San Giovanni commented with these words on the activities of the Droneresi who distinguished themselves in these centuries of cultural development and bloody wars, in particular in the period under the marquisate of Saluzzo Lodovico I del Vasto and Lodovico II del Vasto. From the second half of the nineteenth century to the first of the twentieth century, the area recorded a further industrial and commercial increase also thanks to the interest of Giovanni Giolitti (Mondovì 24/10/1842 - Cavour 17/07/1928), whose family was originally from Valle Maira; entering Parliament in 1882, he was the representative representative of the Dronero constituency until his death. In those years the new bridge over the Maira and the now disappeared Busca-Dronero railway section were built. Originally from Dronero, it was also the count family of Ponza di San Martino who gave ministers and generals such as Gustavo Ponza di San Martino, Coriolano Ponza di Sna Martino and Cesare Ponza di San Martino to the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Italy. The Palazzo Chionetti dating back to 1400, where inside is still visible a symbol of the Marquises of Saluzzo and the original well still visible today and located in the cellar, was purchased by the family that now owns it, master craftsmen in the marble and floral sector of Dronero, in the 1980s and renovated with the utmost attention and care to safeguard its history and antiquity and to recover a good part of its original materials. The top floor, the property being sold, was once used as a drying room, and was recovered by the family in a meticulous manner and transformed into a very spacious and comfortable attic that exudes all the history of this building.