Lu and Cuccaro are now part of the same municipality, but each has its own distinct history.
Cuccaro Monferrato’s story is closely tied to the ancient Colombo family. The earliest documents refer to this family, reportedly granted the fief of Cuccaro (along with eight other villages) by Emperor Otto I in 960. This is usually expressed with some caution, as some researchers believe the document to be a forgery, even though a transcription dated March 15, 1460, was found in the State Archive of Turin. Numerous confirmations of the Colombo family’s investiture appear in the 14th century, including records from January 10, 1341, and December 17, 1376.
Based on parish archives examined in recent years, local researcher Pietro Canepa published the book Cuccaro, c’era una volta, which reconstructs the history and spirit of this community—from fewer than 200 inhabitants in the Middle Ages, to a peak of 1,300 in 1901, and the 351 residents today. The village’s history is marked by endemic poverty, cyclical plagues, and relentless incursions by soldiers—French, Spanish, or German—always ready to pillage and destroy. This is only a brief glimpse of the past; for a full account spanning from medieval times through the tragedies of the First and Second World Wars to the present day, visitors are referred to Canepa’s book, available at the Cuccaro Monferrato town hall or the local tobacconist.
As for Lu, between 1911 and 1915, the village began implementing public street lighting using electricity. A large Monferrato electrical plant replaced the old gas lamps, which had previously been lit daily by lamplighters. On April 17, 1913, the Prefecture of Alessandria officially authorized the Società Generale Casalese di Elettricità to install the electrical system to bring light to the towns of Monferrato: the suburb of San Germano, and the villages of Occimiano, Mirabello, Lu, Conzano, Camagna, Frassinello, Olivola, Grazzano, Ottiglio, Sala, Cellamonte, Rosignano, Terrugia, Borgo San Martino, Ticineto, and Valmacca.
In Lu, the municipal council accepted this directive on March 19, 1914, following lively local debate that had already begun in the early 1900s. On September 6 of the same year, the council approved the first expansion of public lighting, and in 1929 further improvements extended lighting to the hamlets of Martini, Bodelacchi, Trisogli, and Borghina. After wartime restrictions in the 1940s, public lighting was gradually upgraded again from 1949, with more significant improvements during the 1960s.
A street lamp located at the corner of Via Mameli and Via Montalto in Lu’s historic center stands as a testament to this history. Traces remain on the surrounding walls of the pulley used by lamplighters to ignite the lamp before 1914. Today, the same brick lamp post houses electric lighting, continuing to illuminate one of the most charming corners of Lu.
