Priero is a small town and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

of the Langhe

Langhe

The Langhe is a hilly area to the south and east of the river Tanaro in the province of Cuneo in Piedmont, northern Italy....

, located six kilometres east of Ceva

Ceva

Ceva, the ancient Ceba, is a small Italian town in the province of Cuneo, region of Piedmont, 49 km east of Cuneo. It lies on the right bank of the Tanaro on a wedge of land between that river and the Cevetta stream.-History:...

 in the Province of Cuneo

Province of Cuneo

ayr is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ....

, Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Presently it has a population of 441.

History

The original settlement, on a hill called Poggio to the south of the present village, dates from around the beginning of the second millennium. A pieve

Pieve

In the Middle Ages, a pieve was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended.The Italian word pieve is descended from Latin plebs which, after the expansion of Christianity in Italy, was applied to the community of baptized people...

, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, had authority over the churches at Costelnuovo, Montezemolo

Montezemolo

Montezemolo is a village and comune of c. 250 inhabitants in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km southeast of Turin and about 45 km east of Cuneo....

, Osiglia

Osiglia

Osiglia is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 60 km west of Genoa and about 25 km west of Savona. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 457 and an area of 29.2 km²....

, Calizzano Murialdo and Perlo

Perlo

-Places:*Perlo, Piedmont, a comune in the Province of Cuneo, Italy* Perlő, the Hungarian name for Brebu Commune, Caraş-Severin County, Romania...

 while the fortified ricetto

Ricetto

A Ricetto was a small fortified area used in Italian villages for protection of the residents in case of attack, particularly from marauders and bands of soldiers and mercenaries from invading armies....

was the seat of a visconte appointed directly by the Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

. In the mid fourteenth century the Marquis of Ceva became Lord of Priero and in 1387 plans were drawn up for the construction of the settlement which forms the basis of today’s Priero.

Main sights

The village preserves its fourteenth-century layout. The remains of the old castle, the defensive walls and their towers are all visible. The church of Santi Antonio e Giuliano, first constructed in 1494, retains its original campanile. The rest of the building, however was demolished in the late seventeenth century, and rebuilt in 1716 to plans by F. Gallo.