Saluzzo was a civitas (tribal city state) of the Vagienni, or mountain Ligures, and later of the Salluvii. This district was brought under Roman control by the Consul Marcus Fulvius.

In the Carlovingian age it became the residence of a count; later, having passed to the Marquesses of Susa, Manfredo I, son of Marquess Bonifacio del Vasto, on the division of that principality became Marquess of Saluzzo; this family held the marquisate of Saluzzo from 1142 to 1548. The marquisate embraced the territory lying between the Alps, the Po and the Stura, and was extended on several occasions. In the Middle Ages it had a chequered existence, often being in conflict with powerful neighbours, chiefly the Counts (later Dukes) of Savoy. After Manfredo II's death, his widow had to accept a series of tributes, which were to be later the base of the House of Savoy's claims over the increasingly feebler marquises' territories. Tommaso III, a vassal of France, wrote the romance Le chevalier errant ('the knight-errant').

Ludovico I (1416-75) started the Golden Age of the city and imposed himself as a mediator between the neighbouring powers. Ludovico II constructed a tunnel, no longer in use, through the Monviso, a remarkable work for the time. With the help of the French he resisted a vigorous siege by the Duke of Savoy in 1486, but in 1487 yielded and retired to France where he wrote L'art de la chevalerie sous Vegèce ("The art of chivalry under Vegetius", 1488), a treatise on good government, and other works on military affairs. He was a patron of clerics and authors. In 1490 Ludovico regained power, but after his deaths his sons struggled longly for the rule and impoverished the state.

Staffarda is an Italian village area, within the commune of Revello near Saluzzo (south-west of Turin, and south of Pinerolo).
It is best known for the Cistercian abbey, Santa Maria di Staffarda: a monastic complex founded in 1135 by Manfredo I Marquis of Saluzzo.

The Battle of Staffarda was fought here in 1690 between France and the Duchy of Savoy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saluzzo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffarda