Museo Civico Tazzetti and Parish Complex

Site overview

Since 2004, the Ancient Parish Complex of Usseglio has returned to life as a cultural hub for the Viù Valley, hosting the Civic Museum and numerous activities dedicated to the promotion of history, the environment, and mountain traditions. A highly fascinating architectural ensemble, where medieval buildings, museum spaces, and collective memory meet around the suggestive square dedicated to Luigi Cibrario.

A dynamic cultural center for the entire Viù Valley, the Museum promotes the study, protection, and enhancement of the local mountain reality and its historical-environmental heritage. It houses mineralogical, faunal, botanical, archaeological, pictorial, and ethnographic collections and offers permanent and temporary exhibitions, a series of publications, educational activities, the Francoprovençal Language Desk, and cultural itineraries illustrating the historical, artistic, architectural, and natural features of the territory. Within the stone perimeter walls, it hosts several buildings arranged around a courtyard: the former Town Hall, seat of the Museum; the Ancient Parish Church of the Assunta, with three aisles and a Romanesque bell tower, and the former cemetery area behind it. Of medieval foundation (pre-1307) but transformed in 1635 with the construction of the south aisle and the reversal of the facade, the church owes its current appearance to 18th-century interventions, when the north aisle and the sacristy were built.