Corio’s territory (625 m), on the boundary between the Lanzo Valleys and Alto Canavese, overlooks the high Malone Valley. It fans out at the foot of mounts Soglio, Angiolino and Uja. This territory has an administrative center and many hamlets, the houses of which are all built with dry stone walls and slate roofs.
Many are the theories about the name’s origin: curia (meaning courtyard or barnyard of a larger built up area), corigo (due to the heart shape hamlets arrangement) or cor (Indo-European root meaning rock or height). It is possible to deduce from some toponyms that Corio was already inhabited before Roman colonization. Ivrea’s Museum preserves finds and artifacts, which, together with city planning, prove the existence of Roman settlements on the site. Corio’s first document dates from the XIth century when the Benedictine nuns' cloister was founded in Busano. Corio, bound for many years to Rocca Canavese by historical events, was administered by many lords: the Canavese Counts, the Valpergas, the Monferrato Marquises, the Castellamontes, the Biandrates, the Acaja Princes and finally the Savoy Kingdom, the vicissitudes of which it experienced.
