Busano: Ricetto, Romanesque Church and Canavese Culture

Busano brings together architectural history, religious art, market life, Canavese cuisine and landscape. The entrance tower of the Ricetto, the Romanesque parish church and the Chiesa della SS. Trinità highlight different historical themes. The weekly market, culinary walk and patron saint’s festival add regular events to the town calendar; a cycling loop leads through the Alto Canavese and several landscape areas. The regional connection to the Canavese is reflected both in the traditional dishes served during the culinary walk and in the cycling loop through the Alto Canavese.

Architectural history between the Ricetto and the parish church

The entrance tower of the Ricetto, the Torre del Ricetto, was built from rubble stone with comparatively carefully worked cornerstones. The former passage through the Torre del Ricetto was equipped with a drawbridge. The tower and its former passage thus form an architectural reference point where materials, corner construction and historical access security come together.

The parish church of Busano displays several Romanesque architectural features. Its Romanesque section was built between 1035 and 1040. The main apse is crowned by six blind arcades, while the Romanesque apses are located at the rear of the church. In 1019, an important Benedictine convent was also founded in Busano. The convent’s foundation in 1019 therefore predates the construction period of the Romanesque section of the parish church.

Religious art in the Chiesa della SS. Trinità

In the Chiesa della SS. Trinità, the furnishings repeatedly refer to the symbolism of the Trinity. The artistic program includes the Bovari banner. It depicts the town’s Madonna of Protection, Saint Isidore and Saint Thomas. The religious art here combines the furnishings’ Trinitarian symbolism with a specifically described banner.

Market, Canavese cuisine and local festivals

Busano’s weekly market takes place on Mondays from 08:00 to 13:00 on Piazza San Tommaso and in Via Igonetti. The market therefore takes place on Monday mornings. “Marciar e Mengiàr” was held for the eighth time on 28 June 2025 as an evening culinary walk through Busano’s historic courtyards, featuring tastings of traditional Canavese dishes. The Festa Patronale Natività Maria S.S. falls on the second weekend of September. The market, culinary evening and patron saint’s festival thus represent different forms of the town’s local event calendar.

Cycling through the Alto Canavese

The “CORIO Anello Alto Canavese Morena Ovest” cycling loop passes through Busano and explores the foothills of the Alto Canavese, the plain and the western beginning of the moraine of the Ivrea Moraine Amphitheatre. The route connects the town with three different landscape areas: foothills, plain and the beginning of the moraine. For planning a cycling tour, these areas form distinct sections of the same route. Busano thus remains connected to the regional setting of the Alto Canavese and the Ivrea Moraine Amphitheatre.

More destinations for planning your trip to Italy

Other destination pages you can visit for your travel planning include Viù, Bussoleno, Palazzo Canavese, Chiaverano, Chiomonte, Chieri, Brosso and San Maurizio Canavese.

For the higher-level travel overview: Turin.