About us

HISTORY

According to some documents bearing the name of my grandmother, found during reconstruction work in the 1980s, the building, which today hosts the B&B “Di Ago in Ago”, was bought by my great-grandparents on the maternal side of my family, presumably in the eighteenth century. 

From research carried out on the few texts available about the area, the house was built on the remains of the fourteenth-century city walls, demolished by the French during the occupation of Piedmont in 1543.

Curiously enough, it is still possible to see the remains of an escape passage leading to the castle above. The vault entrance itself, housed in the cellar of the building located on the side of the hill, was probably used as a secret means to run away in case of enemy attacks.

The house was then turned into an inn, most likely at the beginning of the nineteenth century- you can still see some large iron rings on the outer walls of the courtyard which were used for tying the horses up. These can still be located beneath the palm and beech trees of the gardens of Villa Fiorito, where the impressive bell tower of the old Collegiata (visible from the house) still also stands.

Despite some reconstruction work required at the time, the house has always retained its charm.

On the death of my great-grandparents, my grandparents moved into the house which, besides being their home, also hosted the saddlery workshop of my grandfather and his brother Giovanni.

One can imagine long days spent at the work desk while the smell of leather - used to produce the saddles manufactured in this very courtyard - filled the air.

A photo taken by the Allais Studio of Avigliana remembers those times (my grandfather is the man standing up busy cutting the leather skins).

Following the loss of his wife, my grandfather’s brother left the business, which was then converted into a shoemaker’s workshop.

The same needles and threads that had previously been used to laboriously stitch together rough and thick leather into saddles, were now used to sow leather to produce fashionable footwear for the aristocracy of Rivoli, as well as to repair more modest shoes.

In the mid-forties, after having spent a long time at a fashion atelier in Turin to learn and practice the art of dressmaking, my mother and my aunt opened, in the same house, a dressmaker’s workshop. As you can see below, it took place exactly in the same courtyard that hosted, until the late eighties, an interweaving of needles, threads and fabrics in a harmony of colours.

Those needles and those threads that unite the history of my family members, inspired me to give the name "Di Ago In Ago" to my B&B which was brought to life in September 2016.

This is, in short, the history of the B & B "Di Ago In Ago".