“The Grand Betum” of Servino

The territory of the Alps, thanks to its complex morphology, features remote environments that in the past represented true settlement micro-universes where communities domesticated the landscape, adapting it to agriculture and livestock farming. In these same areas, they built houses and villages and connected them to the main valley-floor communication routes through a complex network of paths and mule tracks. This is the case of the Servino valley, which contains a structured complex of rural settlements with ancient characteristics dating back to the High Middle Ages. Within this context, different dynamics can be identified, starting with an early seigneurial phase linked to the creation of a large mountain agricultural estate presided over by an imposing fortified house locally known as “Lo Grand Betum” (the great building). In this complex, architectural elements typical of ancient castles are clearly recognizable, such as herringbone masonry and the use of structural systems recurring in early medieval rustic Comacine architecture, including trilithic elements used to frame openings. Alongside these, there are refined details such as monolithic corbels supporting gutters and stone slabs protecting the heads of wooden tie beams. Few later modifications have altered its primary character, defined as a tower-like structure easily defensible, with access to the upper floors provided by removable ladders pulled up from above.

In the surrounding area, various types of appurtenances can be identified, developed and reorganized over several centuries, with later evidence pointing to solid stone constructions, including rear additions not originally part of the structure and possibly datable based on an engraved stone bearing a date attributable to the 17th century. It is believed that the original settlement complex around the tower included stables and sheepfolds mainly built in wood, with enclosures suitable for housing herds and flocks in ordinary pastoral activity. Of particular significance is the presence of an ancient rascard of Walser tradition, which may indicate the arrival from the north of populations belonging to the broader Germanic cultural sphere.

The structure was positioned to oversee a large agro-pastoral estate, around which the rural settlements that characterize the valley (Recrosio and Fontana) developed. The economy was based on extensive pasture resources obtained by deforesting well-exposed slopes and on chestnut cultivation, which reached altitudes only slightly below those of the seigneurial settlement.

Comparative studies of the structures and an excavation survey conducted at the base of the building have allowed the study of the foundation levels of the tower, identifying the remains of a small lime kiln where the lime used for the masonry was produced. Limited associated materials have made it possible to hypothesize a foundation date between the 11th and 12th centuries.

The defensive nature of the structure should not be interpreted as having a purely military vocation, but rather as a sign of the lord’s ban authority over the land, as well as a means of safeguarding estates and goods such as dairy products, chestnuts, wheat, and salted meats, which constituted the typical production of the mountain environment and the contributions of the subjects in fulfillment of taxes.

Among the fortified houses that have survived into the third millennium with much of their structure still standing, “Lo Grand Betum” is one of the oldest, comparable to Pianit (Locana), Pertia (Ribordone), and Onsino (Sparone). It is attributed to the presence in the territory of one of the branches of the San Martino dynasty, although it cannot be excluded that over time it changed ownership during the many small and large feudal wars that characterized the medieval Canavese.

Dr. Marco Cima
Historian - CESMA - Archaeological Museum of Canavese