Ronco Canavese

The commune's territory climbs from the valley floor around 774 meters up to alpine summits above 3,400 meters, much of it inside the protected area of the park. The first settlements between the tenth and eleventh centuries cleared land the Romans had left forested; the name comes from the Latin runcus, ground newly broken. The first parish was recorded in the thirteenth century.

Two hundred and seventy-one people live in the commune year-round, spread across the capoluogo and a dozen hamlets that make up the Valle Soana. The park visitor centre based here turns that geography into its subject, tracking the biodiversity, ibex, chamois and golden eagle among it, that the valley's climb from 774 to over 3,400 meters supports. The Comuni Virtuosi recognition signals a working line on waste, water and community use of public land. A village this size, spread this thin across a valley this steep, has had to make an ongoing practice of managing what little flat ground and shared resource it has.