| Cavour, the Rock. Custom Object |
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| Cavour, the Rock.   | 
| Page Type: Custom Object Location: Turin, Italy, Europe Lat/Lon: 44.77989°N / 7.37526°E Object Type: Informational County: Piedmont | Page By: chaberton Created/Edited: Dec 18, 2011 / Dec 19, 2011 Object ID: 766143 Hits: 358 Loading... Page Score: 87.71% - 10 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Overview.:"Numquam vidi montem seiunctum a monte nisi roccam Caburri"
(I had never seen a mountain that stands alone from others such as the Cavour Rock.)
Virgilio.
Cavour, is not only the name of the first Italian prime minister (1861), but it is also a beautiful city at the foothills of the Western Alps.
The "Rock", is an Alpine peak which rises 162 meters on the floodplain; an isolated rock dating back to about 30 million years ago. It is therefore particularly visible because it rises in the area particularly flat and gives the impression of being some sort of nothing.
The Cavour Rock is a Monadnock, which is the top of a mountain completely surrounded by the alluvial plain. It is part of the Dora-Maira Alpine Massif and by the geological point of view results to be an outcrop of granite, with the top covered by schists.
The first human settlements of the rock dating to the Neolithic period average, thanks to the presence of rock paintings and artifacts dating from the fourth millennium before Christ. The places was then inhabited in the period before the Roman conquest, who transformed : "Caburrum" (the rock), in a fortress. In the tenth century AD was destroyed by the Arabs, was rebuilt and passed from hand to hand (from one lordship to another), until in 1242 ( imperial concession) passed definitively to Savoy.
The fortress erected on the tops was attacked and conquered in 1592 by the Huguenots of Lesdiguires, reconquered by Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy, it was finally destroyed by the French Marshal Catinat (age of King Sun Louis XIV) in 1690.
In 1931 on the tank of the castle (fully excavated in the rock) and containing the remains of people massacred by the soldiers of Catinat in 1690, was built a memorial pillar.
In 1955 was built on the site of the fortress(of which a few ruins remain) a votive chapel dedicated to Our Lady.
The Rock seen from the Sanctuary of our lady of the Snow. |
The Summit of the Cavour Rock (on the background the Western Alps, Dora-Maira Mountains). |
Getting there.From Turin:
take the A55 motorway Turin-Pinerolo. Once you aarrive in Pinerolo (30' by car), you have to follow the S.S. 589 and you arrive to Cavour (20' by car).
After Garzigliana you as an excellent point of reference on the Rock, which stands out as an island in the middle of the plain.Witness of thousands years.The human presence on the Rock is attested by the discovery of evidence of prehistoric human presence, such as the remains of green stone processing.
Since the Middle Neolithic, it appears to have recorded the existence of the so-called Culture of the Vase with Square Mouth. Have been found fragments of vases in ceramic material belonging to their own culture with decoration "barbed wire", dating back to about half of the fourth millennium BC. It would also be conceivable that an attendance at the ripe old age of metals, while lack of reliable data regarding the attendance during the Paleolithic.
Other examples include, as discussed in more detail, a rock painting and engraving.
The main and most beautiful examples dating from the Neolithic period are:
The "la Pansa d'la Roca " (the belly of the rock), is a rock on which is engraved a large circle surrounding an area in relief, which is placed at the center of a large cupel. It is a valuable monument of clear megalithic tradition, connected to fertility rites and worship the Sun.
Petroglyphs are widely present in all the Alpine valleys. Rock carvings in the shape of the claw, the cups and the hand.
The "Anthropomorphic Ecstatic" painting of the Rock, the painting is more beautiful and meaningful, was unfortunately (some years ago) covered with paint from an imbalanced.The siege of Cavour.Work in Progress.
The siege (1690). |
Flying over the Cavour Rock.The Rocca di Cavour is an unusual element of detachment from the surrounding countryside for those who take the road that connects Pinerolo with the Cuneo area, and are perhaps in a matter of special importance to know that this is merely the tip above an ancient and wide Alpine branch, buried by quaternary deposits, which formed the great Po Valley.
With just 162 meters of its height above the surrounding countryside, the 72 hectares covered by forests composed of mostly deciduous chestnut, locust and oak, its rocky outcrops, to create a strong contrast with the surrounding plain, completely occupied by monoculture farming in recent decades, have unified this environment, impoverishing greatly under the naturalistic.
A natural oasis, a haven for tired migrants birds. |
If, with a little effort of imagination, we see from all this, imagining covered with feathers, perhaps tired and hungry after crossing a stretch of the Alps during the migration, that's the Rocca di Cavour is much more than a curiosity and landscape, becomes a place to find shelter and food, and for many a suitable environment to live and breed permanently.
As is evident from the table, the number of species that frequents the Rock is very varied, some also in the surrounding plains, but most related to this particular environment.
From 1995 to 2000, were captured and ringed (in a bloodless manner), all species of birds that frequent the rock. In order to define a census of the birdlife of the new nature park.
Owl: 2
Blackcap: 309
Great Tit: 83
Blue Tit: 50
Bullfinch: 2
Long-tailed Tit: 86
Black Redstart: 1
Firecrest: 18
Chaffinch: 62
Hawfinch: 16
Jay: 4
Long-eared Owl: 2
Siskin: 2
Chiffchaff: 52
Blackbird: 210
Tree Sparrow: 29
Dunnock: 44
Brambling: 2
Robin: 134
Nuthatch: 6
Woodpecker: 2
Green Woodpecker: 5
Regulus: 12
Wren: 21
Alpine Accentor: 1
Sparrowhawk: 6
Mistle Thrush: 2
Thrush: 18
Redwing: 7
Greenfinch: 3
Muciatto Bunting: 72
Bunting white: 11 External Links.The rock paintings
Cavour Images
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