Livorno Ferraris: Discover Churches, Museums and Rice Culture

Livorno Ferraris brings together sacred art, sites of remembrance, rice culture and technological history within a compact thematic area. The town’s Roman necropolis is dated to the 1st to 4th centuries AD. At the same time, its churches and museums take you from medieval traces to the origins of electrical engineering, making the town particularly interesting if you want to discover Italian culture not only through major attractions, but also through tangible local evidence.

Churches and Historical Traces

At the Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Lorenzo Martire, you will encounter several layers of religious art. The church was completed in 1778 under the direction of Filippo Castelli and consecrated on 9 August 1778 by Giuseppe Luigi Avogadro, Bishop of Casale Monferrato. The surviving works include paintings by Giorgio Alberini from 1823 and from around 1620, as well as a work by Bernardino Galliari dating to around 1776. They are joined by the reliquaries of Saint Clement and Saint Lawrence, as well as a wooden crucifix from the 16th century.

The Chiesa Santa Maria d'Isana offers a different historical perspective. It is considered the only Templar church in Piedmont to have survived to the present day. The church is located on a farm 3 km east of the centre of Livorno Ferraris, on a side road perpendicular to the SP 7 between Livorno Ferraris and Trino. Access is directly from the road, and the entrance is at street level. Every year on 15 August, a festival with a walking procession is held there as a votive procession. According to some traditions, the origins of this custom date back to the plague of 1624.

At the Torrione Medievale, the marks left by the drawbridge are still visible today. They point to a moat and to the former existence of a castle. Together with the Roman necropolis, they form a historical arc that makes the town’s long development tangible through individual, concrete traces.

Museums of Family, Technology and Everyday Life

The M.A.V.O. uses explanatory panels and guides visitors through the main corridor and four exhibition rooms. It is directly accessible from the road and has a step-free entrance.

The Museo Sacrario “Galileo e Adamo Ferraris” is housed in the former Ferraris family home. It was handed over in 1931 and contained documents and objects commemorating the Ferraris brothers. In 1997, the Museo Civico “Ferraris” was expanded and redesigned as a cultural centre with an educational and general-interest laboratory. Activities and experiments on the origins of electrical engineering take place there.

Rice Culture as a Local Focus

In Livorno Ferraris, rice is not merely the subject of a single exhibition. The Ecomuseo della Coltura del Riso presents household furnishings, the workshops of the blacksmith, farrier and margaio, a school, agricultural machinery and farm carts. At the same time, it preserves the historical memory as well as the way of life and working culture of the people of Livorno. This makes it possible for you to see how closely everyday life, crafts and agriculture are interconnected.

At the Riseria Riso Acquerello, the complete production chain for organic rice is presented: from cultivation and processing to filling and packaging.

More Destinations for Trip Planning

If you would like to expand your trip to include the surrounding area, you can also include Scopello, Trino, Borgosesia, Pila, Ferrera, Santhià, Alagna Valsesia and Crescentino in your further selection.

Back to the main travel overview: Vercelli.