LUIGI PALMA DI CESNOLA

Among the most distinguished members of the family was Count Luigi Palma di Cesnola, born in the palace in Rivarolo in 1832. He was the son of Count Maurizio, who died in exile in 1852.

At just sixteen years of age, he took part in the Risorgimento campaigns of 1848–49.

After leaving the army, he emigrated to the United States, where he founded a military school and took part in the War of Secession. 

When the conflict ended, he was appointed American consul in Cyprus: there he carried out intense and valuable archaeological work, conducting numerous excavation campaigns and collecting a large number of artifacts, many of which later became part of the Metropolitan Museum of New York. In 1870, part of his collections also reached the Museum of Antiquities in Turin. 

Luigi also made several journeys to Italy and returned to Rivarolo in 1865, where he received a warm welcome; particularly moving was his visit to the Infant School, to which his family had long been closely connected.

Luigi Palma di Cesnola had three brothers: Alerino, Alessandro, and Carlo Flaminio. Alerino lived in Rivarolo and practiced law; Alessandro was a brave soldier in the Wars of Independence; Carlo Flaminio, on the other hand, was the father of Giulio Cesare Palma, a general in the Air Force. 

Among the last descendants of the Palma, Counts of Borgofranco, Countess Giulia should also be remembered, a very well-known figure in Rivarolo: with her death in 1967, a great quantity of documents and precious objects belonging to the family was dispersed. 

The family tomb in the cemetery of Rivarolo Canavese, since there were no longer any heirs to take care of it, was also demolished by municipal order; with it were lost the plaques bearing the names of the ancestors and even the family’s marble coat of arms.