The coat of arms of this hamlet, which comprises part of the San Biagio district, has decidedly odd symbols: a cracked shield in red and deep blue tinctures overlapped by a gold coin and the inscription BORG DIJ PATIN E DEL TESÒR (hamlet of slippers and treasure) and a slipper right in the centre.
Even if the symbols used to not fully conform with heraldic traditions, they obviously intended to indicate the affluence and industry of the inhabitants of this part of town, while the choice of such humble footwear intended to highlight the humility of people who, had they wished, with the power of their money could certainly have shown off a different life style.

Yet, the slipper and gold probably have a historical meaning: it is said that in the past the hamlet was renowned for its precious metal workshops, and for its shoemakers of prestige who sold their wares on the Via Maestra and in the Porta di San Martino area.

The history of the Patin Hamlet, like that of Fumo, of Moretta and Santa Barbara, is immeasurably remote. Perhaps the oldest traces of human settlements, when Alba was only a territory of thick woods and clearings, are to be found right here, and in particular towards the Cherasca stream, where at the end of last century the archaeologist G.B. Traverso, found evidence dating from the fifth millennium b.C.

Today, we cannot imagine a village of huts in the area beyond the ring road, towards the railway bridge, where the Cherasca stream was a reference point for a human site, as it is difficult to picture the Roman bulwarks which passed through the heart of the hamlet and brought to light in Via Cuneo by the archaeological excavations in 1974.
But it is equally difficult to think about Medieval times, about the Porta di San Biagio, roughly situated at the end of what today is Via Paruzza, and the bulwarks partially destroyed before the 18th century and eliminated in 1790, when the fortified city walls had lost their military purpose. These places, originally turned into vegetable plots and gardens that in the last decades have been subjected to the indiscriminate invasion of buildings with no aesthetic sense, no longer bear any trace of important edifices other than the remains of fortified walls, or part of the massive bulk of the Bishop’s Palace.

The Patin Hamlet is delimited by Piazza Savona (shared with the Hamlet of San Martino) and by Via Paruzza, which marks the limit with San Lorenzo. In the south, the railway going to Neive and Castagnole separates it from Borgo di Santa Barbara. In 1864, when it was built, the railway divided a vast territory intended for fields and vegetable plots and only later, in 1925, within the perfect arch drawn by its route, the complex of San Paolo with its temple and the new square were constructed.
The square, levelled in the ‘30’s with the earth extracted from the foundations of the buildings of Via Roma, was considered architecturally imposing at the time because of the soaring lines of the church façade and of the buildings placed at its sides. On account of its vast surface the square hosted various editions of the Palio and up until the fifties was the venue of the fruit and grape market, inasmuch as in the autumn the nearby Piazza Savona could not cater for the long line of vats loaded with grapes.

Victories: 1969, 1970, 1975, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2005.

www.borgopatinetesor.com