It was very important during the Roman Age,as its
position on the Francigena road.
It saw the invasion of Etruschi, Ostrogoti, Longobardi
( just for say some ones). The first historic docyument
is dated about 999 when Palestro it has been presented
to Vercelli's bishop under the will of Ottone III. It was
already a fortify village, and today you can see a part 
of it into the battlemented tower; unfortunately of the 
great Castellazzo, built as a rock between to region, 
Vercellese and  Lomellina, we have nothing more.
Since Visconti domination  (1335 - 1452) after 
Borromei in the 1500 the village went under the control
of Spain, finished with Carlo  Emanuele I di Savoia 
the 29th of September 1614 with the grait fire that 
destroyed the whoole village.
Palestro was theatre of a famous battle, the 30th  and 
the  31st May 1859 where Franco - Piemontese army
won against the Austrian one.
To monuments remember the fallen, the first made by
the sculptor Bellora from Milanoi dedicated to the italian
soldier dated 1868, the second, inaugurated in 1896 is 
the ossuary made by the Architect Sommaruga from 
Torino.The up-dating parish church dedicated to S.Martino
di Tours is not the original; Locarni from Vercelli has 
rebuilt it in 1884.Inside you can admire two frescoes by
Luigi Morgari   (1906), one is about the Palestro battle.
There are also lots of pictures, as "Santa conversione tra
La Madonna e i Santi", made by Lanino (1512-1583).
Probably the first Palestro parish church is San Giovanni
luilt over the ruins of a Romanic Church and inaugurated in
the 162. This parish church, in Barock style you can find 
beautiful pictures of the 1400-1500 and some one of the 
centuries after. Very loved by the religious people is the 
little sanctuary (Santuarietto) dedicated to Madonna della
Neve, (in Vinzaglio) built around a little column painted 
perhaps by Gaudenzio Ferrari. (1470-1546)  

S. Martino

Ossario

Madonna della Neve