Cirié
Cirié, about 18 km northwest of Turin, is located at the end of the Lanzo valleys, close to a plateau called "Vauda", a Celtic origin term indicating a forest.Before the Roman rule, according to Polybius, this area was covered in thick forests, with very few glades, some small villages and sparse tracks linking the settlements.After the complete defeat of the Salassi and the peace treaties, the castrum rapidly became a main business crossroads and several houses, initially wooden then in bricks and stones, were built around the military camp.When Christianity expanded in the Roman Empire, Cirié picked up Cyriacus (martyrized in Rome in 303) as patron saint, due to the similarity of his name with the ancient castrum denomination.The famous Il celebre Theatrum Statuum Sabaudiae (1682, a sort of guide of the Savoy territories) gives a long and detailed description of Cirié ("Septimo Taurinense ad Urbe lapide, Septentrionem versus, non longe ab Alpium Graiarum radicibus, occurrit Ciriacum Oppidum, insigne Marchionatus titulo, qui sub se S.Mauritium, Nolas & Robasomerium minora Oppida comprehendit") and cites the probable origin of the village name as being related to the martyr ("Pedemontanis dicitur Cirié, fortasse a peculiari Incolarum erga Divum Cyriacum Martyrem cultu, cujus festum s.Idus Augusti inibi summa celebritate recolitur").