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Arborio in the Province of Vercelli

Important rice production centre (as a matter of fact a variety of rice is named after it) this village is supposed to have Roman origins, as its place name – deriving from Arboreum – seems to suggest.

The first historic testimony dates from 999, but it is only since the XII century that Arborio has become known, thanks to the homonymous family, which shaped the history of this province and of larger areas.

The village had an evocative castle of which there is only the ruins of a brick and stone perimeter wall left, a cylindrical corner tower, some herringbone walls and, mainly, the ancient stronghold, with its dovetail merlons and pointed arch single-laced windows framed in fired ceramics.

The Saint Martin parish is interesting for its round layout. It was built with classical shapes on the basis of the project of Richiardi (1769), on the same site of an older parish, built in 1132 and later destroyed. Its façade is made of simple geometrical shapes. The bell tower was built by the architect Nicola Nervi (1786). Also the sixteenth century frescoes, kept in the nearby Oratory of Saint Sebastian, are interesting.

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