Marciolame quarter

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We are in the Marciolame quarter, on the banks of the Rabbi River, once a small hamlet belonging to the parish. Although legend traces the name Marciolame to the Roman soldier Marcello, it more likely derives from land once cultivated with grano marzolo (March wheat). According to some documents, around 1606 the stone bridge—already existing in the 16th century—that connected the quarter to Premilcuore was rebuilt. One such document states: “Furthermore, it is necessary to build a stone bridge, mortared with lime, over the ditch at Marciolame, outside the castle, which serves for all the people to go to the parish church… This bridge is needed to reach the castle to bring the Holy Sacrament to the sick and for public processions, and since the bridge, due to the rains, brings great disorder and inconvenience… at every rainfall the ditch is so eroded that it cannot be crossed… therefore we ask the Nove for permission to spend one hundred scudi on the bridge.” At the top of the hamlet once stood the old Hospital of St. John the Baptist, small and consisting of only two rooms—one with a fireplace—two beds, and a stable. According to the 1690 parish census (Stato d’anime), Marciolame had 5 resident families; by 1793, there were 13.

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