The particular geographical conformation of the AMI has greatly conditioned land use and human settlement in the area over time. Today's
satellite photographs of the area show, for example, how to this day the moraine hills still differ in the presence of extensive forests from the inland plain and surrounding territories, which are instead characterized by a denser human population and the prevalence of
intensive farming.
Prehistory Even assuming that human settlements had existed within the AMI before the phase of maximum glacial expansion these would not be documentable because the action of the Balteo glacier would have erased all traces of them. There are, however, numerous human testimonies in the area dating back to the
Neolithic period and, particularly, to the final phase of the last glacial pulsation of the
Early Pleistocene (starting about ten to twelve thousand years ago). The human population was consolidated during the
Bronze Age; among the finds dating back to this period particularly well preserved are those referable to settlements near lake basins that still exist or that over time have been transformed into peat
bogs. Of considerable importance, for example, is the research carried out on the
pile-dwelling villages of
Viverone and Bertignano, where a number of
pirogues were also found. of
Cavaglià The presence of human settlements around the lakes is evidently not coincidental but testifies to how the inhabitants of this part of the Canavese appreciated the additional food resources provided by fishing and the greater security offered by pile-dwelling settlements compared to those on dry land. Evidence of
Bronze and
Iron Age human settlements can also be found, however, in areas far from the lakes, such as the
megalithic complex of
Cavaglià, located in the southeastern area of the AMI. Favorable climatic conditions and the use of metal tools led to some population growth and reinforced an
agricultural practice integrated with animal husbandry.
Roman period In pre-Roman times the Canavese was inhabited by the
Salassi, a people of
Celtic origin. The first clash with Rome took place in 143 BC, when the Salassi resisted the troops of Consul
Appius Claudius Pulcher. There were no noteworthy battles over the next forty years, but certainly Rome's economic penetration continued, which allowed the
Senate to found the
Roman colony of Eporedia (today's
Ivrea) in 100 BC on a pre-existing fortified village of the Salassians. The resistance of the populations in the plain and in the nearby Aosta Valley was resolved in 25 B.C. by Emperor
Augustus, who, as narrated by historian
Strabo, obtained the surrender of the Salassi and was able to found the
municipium of
Aosta. As early as 100 B.C. a remarkable transformation in land use began in the AMI: in parallel with the military occupation the settlement of citizens of Roman or
Latin origin began, to whom were assigned carefully measured and surveyed plots of land of which the settlers themselves began agricultural exploitation. This land organization of the lowland area took place according to the classic scheme of
centuriation, that is, the division of fields with a network of orthogonal lanes and canals; traces of this ancient subdivision can still be found in the Canavese countryside, according to archaeological studies. The AMI area also had considerable commercial importance in the imperial period, being located along
Gaul, which, via Augusta Praetoria (
Aosta) and the
passes of the
Little and
Great St. Bernard, connected the
Po Valley with
Gaul.
Middle Ages and Renaissance ), on the
Biella side of the Serra The period of crisis following the
fall of the Roman Empire and the
early Middle Ages were also politically and economically troubled in the
Canavese. The area changed hands several times until the final passage under the
Savoy family in 1356. As in ancient times, this part of the
Canavese in the Middle Ages was traversed by an important communication route: the
Via Francigena, which gave
pilgrims from central and northern Europe a way to reach the city of
Rome. Its Canavesean section, after leaving the
Aosta Valley, reached
Ivrea and continued southeast, presumably skirting the Serra. also favored by a
period of particularly mild climate.
Viticulture was accompanied by the cultivation of
olives, which according to some scholars was even more widespread and was regulated by numerous edicts and local regulations. In the final phase of the medieval period, thanks in part to the relative political stability provided by the Savoy state, the area experienced a fair amount of economic growth; among the various works built in this period is the Naviglio di Ivrea, the construction of which as a navigable canal was initiated by
Amadeus VIII based on a design by
Leonardo da Vinci with the aim of connecting the city of
Ivrea to
Vercelli and irrigating the Vercelli countryside.
Modern and contemporary age : the first
Olivetti plant, an enterprise that brought employment to many AMI municipalities for decades The
cooling of the climate that occurred between the early 14th century and the mid-19th century caused the disappearance of olive growing in the AMI area; With
industrialization and the consequent abandonment of agricultural activity in the less fertile areas, noticeable especially after World War II, the less favorable slopes of the moraine hills were left to a natural process of reforestation while in the sunnier areas vine cultivation was preserved, often raised in traditional form on terraces housing tall pergolas (in
Piedmontese topie) supported by circular stone columns. Also in the post-World War II period, the AMI was affected by widespread building growth, especially in the area of the inland plain, and the construction of various infrastructures including the Turin-Aosta highway and the A4/A5 - Ivrea-Santhià branch, or the so-called Bretella. Some of these infrastructures, as well as the countryside and towns in the area, were heavily damaged by the flood that hit the AMI area in October 2000 causing the
Dora Baltea and several other Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta waterways to overflow. == Nature conservation ==