The view is enchanting. Around the hill of Camerano, like ripples spreading out in water when you throw a stone, getting gradually softer and less distinct, lie numerous hills, which compete in height before coming up against the Alps, and the curve of the most open sky you can imagine above. The vineyards lined up on the hills, the fields in the valleys, the country roads winding among the trees, the tranquil houses in subtle, pleasing colours – all is bathed in a warm pale blue light, with a lively glint here and there, like tremulous laughter in the air, bringing movement to the harmonious serenity of these places.
In the still twilight the village, the vineyards and the woods which appeared distinct and separate by day, all of a sudden merge together and disappear in the darkness.
When the hills and valleys fade away the land becomes immense. A vague light begins to edge the Alps round Rocciamelone, turning a few low clouds silver and heralding the arrival of the moon. A shooting star streaks swiftly across the sky like a snake of fire, and as it flashes past the other stars fade, then sparkle. It was the eve of the feast day of San Lorenzo, patron saint of the village of Camerano... (A. Gatti "La Terra")

In view of the word endings, some believe Camerano to be of Roman origin and Casasco Ligurian. Camerano is mentioned in papers dating from 875, and in the diploma granted on 26/01/1041 by the Emperor Enrico III to the church of Asti. Casasco is mentioned in a deed dated January 899. It is not altogether certain when the Asinari family came into possession of Camerano and Casasco. The first record of the oldest church in Camerano dates back to 1345.

The area boasts palaeontological remains in the form of fossil strata in the sediment which is part of the “Astiano Pliocene Basin” in Valle delle Noci, a site monitored by the Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage. The Archaeological Office in Turin established that the area is linked to that of the Nature Reserve of Valle Botto and Valle Andona.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

The parish church of Camerano preserves an elaborate stucco decoration covering the presbytery, apse and four side chapels. The work currently in progress is the first stage of a global restoration project.
The parish church was originally under the patronage of the Asinari counts an illustrious branch of the Asti-based family, who owned Camerano and entertained relations with the Savoy court. Margherita and Francesco Asinari were responsible for the work on the building that the apostolic visitor Peruzzi observed in 1585, the year when the count was appointed ambassador to the Venetian republic by Carlo Emanuele I. His wife Margherita de Maino left a sizeable legacy for the altars, which was constantly recalled by Episcopal visitors from 1627 onwards, when Bishop Broglia observed the four chapels, still present today, named after San Carlo Borromeo, the Annunciation, San Francesco d'Assisi and the Virgin Martyrs. The church was evidently updated after the canonisation of Carlo Borromeo in 1610, and the widow obviously wished to honour her late husband by including a chapel named after San Francesco d'Assisi. It is therefore probable that the chapels were decorated in the second decade of the century, and possibly completed before the death of the countess in 1622.
When restoration work began the stuccoes were covered in four layers of paint, which had been identified during the extensive stratification work carried out during the restoration project supervised by the architect Francesco Novelli (Turin).
Each layer corresponds to decorative work or adaptations carried out starting in the late eighteenth century to update the look of the church, including additions in brickwork and the inclusion of new features like the choir stalls.
The restoration work, carried out by the Rava workshop in Turin, thus meant stripping away all the layers of paint to bring out the original surface of the stucco work, with the bright colours of the marbled panels on the walls and the niches peopled with sculpted figures in relief, the elegant decorative trimmings carried out with great skill, the attention to detail and the expressive nature of the figures. Especially in the scenes above the altars, the artist’s attention to the human semblance of these figures is evident. It is not easy to identify the stucco artists who worked on the four chapels, which differ in style from that of the artist who painted the presbytery and apse.
The classical layout of the decorative walls, which recalls the late Mannerist period, is accompanied by painted scenes which are striking but less expertly handled. Research is under way, and in view of the count’s attendance at the court of Turin, is directed towards the stucco decorators of Lugano who worked for the duchy a decade later.