Padre Paolo Abbona (Monchiero, April 27, 1806 - Boves, February 13, 1874).

Missionary, diplomat, explorer in Burma.
Born in 1806 in Monchiero, the young Paolo, along with his two younger brothers, entered the priesthood. He then entered the Society of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (OMV) in Pinerolo (Turin) and in 1839 he left for the Ava and Pegu Mission in Burma where he worked as a missionary without interruption from 1840 until 1873. He visited most of the region and stayed at Moulmein, Amarapura and Mandalay.
Since his arrival, Father Paul Abbona earned the trust and esteem of the Burmese Court and became a valued advisor to the king. He also mediated diplomatic relations between the English and the Burmese throughout the continuous conflict in the area. In 1856, Lord Canning, the Viceroy of the Indies, honored him for his achievements on behalf of the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, who encouraged the Piedmontese government to confer an honor on the missionaries. He was thus knighted Gentleman and Officer of the Saint Maurice and Lazarus Order. In 1868, King Vittorio Emanuele II added the appointment of Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy for "diplomatic cooperation between the Burmese and the Europeans”.
During his sojourn to Piedmont in 1956, he met Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, who introduced him to the king. He was given an audience with Pope Pius IX, his Burmese followers offering the Pontiff precious gifts from their emperor, including a gold chalice and a beautiful sapphire ring. In other important actions, Abbona yet again distinguished himself among the Burmese people. Actively present as a doctor in the epidemics of cholera and smallpox, he effectively combined Italian medicine received from Italy with effective local remedies.
As an explorer and geographer, he studied the course of rivers and managed to open communication with China with Tibet along the so-called Bammò road. In this way, his collaboration with Cristoforo Negri, the dynamic Consular Division Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intensified until in 1867 the prestigious Italian Geographical Society was finally launched. As a missionary and plenipotentiary to both the King of Sardinia and the Emperor of Burma, he was successful at drafting in 1871 a treaty that guaranteed friendship and commerce between the two countries as well as religious freedom for Catholics.
The missionary also captured the curiosity and interest of the Court of Burma through his keen observation of the sky; Abbona received his astral and optical equipment from Count Cavour who had bought them in Stuttgart in order to guarantee their quality. He would once again capture their curiosity with Piedmontese agriculture. At that time, neither white wine nor the white grape were known in Burma. To fulfill the request of the king, the missionary spoke personally to Cavour and Piedmontese vine-shoots, chosen with the help of the former minister of Asian agriculture, arrived at the Burmese Court, along with Piedmontese vegetable seeds.
As is evinced by his many achievements, Father Paul Abbona was strongly inspired by his religious beliefs. As an Oblate to the East, he committed himself to the spread of Catholicism; as a man of faith and a messenger of peace, he built schools, churches, factories and hospitals. In this way, he made many humble and distinguished converts to the Catholic faith in both Italy and Burma. He died in Boves (Cuneo) on February the 13th, 1874.
 

Eso Peluzzi (Born: Cairo, 1894. Died: Montenotte, 1985) was an Italian Pointillist painter.

He studied at the Accademia Albertina in Turin and was a student of Paolo Gaidano and Giacomo Grosso. In 1919, he moved to the Sanctuary of Savona. In 1922, he made his professional debut with a personal exposition at the Fine Arts Promotional Society of Turin in 1923 and participated in the 7th Autumn Art Exhibition in Como. From 1926 to 1948, he presented his works at the Venice Biennale, the Quadrennial in Rome as well as in Italian exhibitions in Baltimore, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Leipzig, Budapest and Paris. His paintings can be seen at the Gallery of Modern Art in Genoa, Florence, Turin, Rome, as well as in museums in Belgrade and Budapest. In 2008, a permanent exhibition hall dedicated to his work was inaugurated inside the ancient Hospice Sanctuary in Savona, in which the artist lived for some years. The hall is now part of the Museum of the Sanctuary. He is buried in Monchiero.