Bagpipes, traditional kilts, whisky, original coats of arms and the descendants of a real Scottish clan… No, we’re not in the wrong country, we’re in Piedmont. In the Cannobina valley between Lake Maggiore and Ossola, there is Gurro, a real village of Scottish origins. Legend has it that right here, in 1525, after the disastrous battle of Pavia, King Francis I of France surrendered to Emperor Charles V. The few survivors of the Scottish guards of the King of France, left for home, but arrived in Val Cannobina were forced to stop until spring because of snow. The hostile and inaccessible but at the same time fertile environment of those lands reminded them of the Scottish Highlands and so they decided to stop there. In the traditions, architecture and language there is still a trace of these Scottish origins.
