City in Piedmont, Italy
Comune in Piedmont, Italy
Alessandria
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Comune di Alessandria
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Flag
Coat of arms
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Location of Alessandria in Piedmont
Show map of Italy
Alessandria (Piedmont)
Show map of Piedmont
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Coordinates:
44°55′N
08°37′E
/
44.917°N 8.617°E
/
44.917; 8.617
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Country
| Italy
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Region
| Piedmont
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Province
| Alessandria
(AL)
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Frazioni
| Spinetta Marengo
, Cantalupo, Casalbagliano, Cascina Morione, Cascinagrossa, Castelceriolo, Cornaglie, Cristo, Filippona, Gerlotti, Litta Parodi, Lobbi, Mandrogne, Molinetto, Orti, Pagella, Porrona, Profumati, San Giuliano, San Giuliano Nuovo, San Giuliano Vecchio, San Michele, Settimio, Valle San Bartolomeo, Valmadonna, Villa Del Foro
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? Mayor
| Giorgio Abonante (PD)
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? Total
| 203.57 km
2
(78.60 sq mi)
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Elevation
| 95 m (312 ft)
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? Total
| 92,104
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? Density
| 450/km
2
(1,200/sq mi)
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Demonyms
| Alessandrini, nickname: Mandrogni
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Time zone
| UTC+1
(
CET
)
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? Summer (
DST
)
| UTC+2
(
CEST
)
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Postal code
| 15121?15122
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Dialing code
| 0131
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Patron saint
| San Baudolino
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Saint day
| November 10
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Website
| Official website
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Alessandria
(
Italian pronunciation:
[ales?sandrja]
ⓘ
;
Piedmontese
:
Lissandria
[li?s?ŋdrja]
) is a city and
commune
in
Piedmont
,
Italy
, and the capital of the
Province of Alessandria
. The city is sited on the
alluvial plain
between the
Tanaro
and the
Bormida
rivers, about 90 kilometres (56 miles) east of
Turin
.
Alessandria is also a major
railway
hub
.
History
[
edit
]
Alessandria was founded in 1168 with a charter as a free comune; it was sited upon a preexisting urban nucleus, to serve as a stronghold for the
Lombard League
, defending the traditional liberties of the
communes
of
northern Italy
against the
Imperial
forces of
Frederick Barbarossa
. Alessandria stood in the territories of the marchese of
Montferrat
, a staunch ally of the Emperor, with a name assumed in 1168 to honour the Emperor's opponent,
Pope Alexander III
. In 1174?1175 the fortress was sorely tested by the Imperial siege and stood fast. A legend (related in
Umberto Eco
's book
Baudolino
, and which recalls one concerning Bishop
Herculanus
’ successful defence of
Perugia
several centuries earlier) says it was saved by a quick-witted peasant, Gagliaudo: he fed his cow with the last grain remaining within the city, then took it outside the
city walls
until he reached the Imperial
camp
. Here he was captured, and his cow cut open to be cooked: when the Imperials found the cow's stomach filled with grain, Gagliaudo was asked the reason to waste such a rich meal. He answered that he was forced to feed his cow with grain because there was such a lot of it, and no room to place it within the city. The Emperor, fearing that the siege would last too long, left Alessandria free (malaria was probably the real cause of his departure). A statue of Gagliaudo can be found on the left corner of the city cathedral.
Alessandria entered into jealous conflicts with the older communes of the region, in particular with
Asti
.
[3]
In 1348 Alessandria fell into the hands of the
Visconti
. In 1391 the army of
Gian Galeazzo Visconti
, commanded by
Jacopo dal Verme
, heavily
defeated the French
army led by
Jean III of Armagnac
in Alessandria.
[4]
In 1450 Alessandria passed with their possessions to the
Sforza
, following the career of
Milan
, until 1707, when it was ceded to the
House of Savoy
and henceforth formed part of
Piedmont
. The new domination was evidenced by the construction of a new big
Cittadella
on the left side of the river Tanaro, across from the city.
With Napoleon's success at the
Battle of Marengo (1800)
, Alessandria fell to France and became the capital of the Napoleonic
Departement of Marengo
. During this period another substantial fort was built to the north of the city containing impressive and substantial barracks which are still used as military headquarters and stores (2006). The remains of a second fort to the south of the city (Cristo quarter) have been sliced in two by a railway (Forte ferrovia); a third one still remains in the middle of the same quarter (Forte Acqui).
From 1814 Alessandria was Savoyard territory once more, part of the
Kingdom of Sardinia
. During the years of the
Risorgimento
, Alessandria was an active centre of the liberals.
In a suburb, Spinetta Marengo, the Battle of Marengo is
reenacted
annually, on 14 June.
Alessandria was the first capital of an Italian province to be governed by a
Socialist
: the clockmaker Paolo Sacco was elected mayor on 25 July 1899.
Owing to its
marshalling yard
and the
bridges
on the Tanaro and Bormida, Alessandria was a strategic military target during
World War II
and was subjected to intense Allied bombing (especially during
Operation Strangle
), the most serious being the raids of 30 April 1944, with 238 dead and hundreds wounded, and 5 April 1945, with 160 deaths, among them 60 children from the children's asylum in Via Gagliaudo. Altogether, 559 people were killed by air raids on Alessandria, which destroyed or badly damaged a thousand buildings.
[5]
[6]
[7]
On 29 April 1945 the city was liberated from the German occupation (1943?1945) by the partisan resistance and troops of
Brazilian Expeditionary Force
.
On 6 November 1994 the Tanaro flooded a good part of the city, causing major damage, especially in the Orti quarter.
Jewish history
[
edit
]
The first known
Jews
in Alessandria, named Abraham (son of Joseph Vitale de Sacerdoti Cohen) opened a loan bank in or about 1490.
[8]
In 1590, the Jews were expelled from the
Duchy of Milan
, and one of Abraham's descendants travelled to
Madrid
, which ruled the Duchy and was permitted to stay in the town due to a large sum owed him by the government. Of the 230 Jews living in the city in 1684, 170 were members of the Vitale family. The
Jewish Ghetto
was established in 1724. Between 1796 and 1814, among the rest of Italian Jewry, the city Jewish congregation was emancipated, under French influence. According to
Benito Mussolini
's census in 1938, the town had 101 Jews.
[8]
On 13 December 1943 the
synagogue
on Via Milano was attacked by supporters of the
Italian Social Republic
. Books and manuscripts were taken out of the synagogue and were
set on fire
at Piazza Rattazzi. In total, 48 Jews were deported from the province of Alessandria, most of them to
Auschwitz
where they were murdered.
[8]
Geography
[
edit
]
Climate
[
edit
]
Alessandria is located in a
humid subtropical climate
(Koppen climate classification
Cfa
), the city has moderately cold winters and hot, sultry summers. Rainfall is moderate, with two minimums (summer and winter) and two maximums in autumn and spring.
Climate data for Alessandria
|
Month
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Year
|
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)
|
3.2
(37.8)
|
6.6
(43.9)
|
12.6
(54.6)
|
17.7
(63.8)
|
22.4
(72.3)
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26.7
(80.1)
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29.5
(85.1)
|
28.6
(83.5)
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24.1
(75.4)
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16.9
(62.5)
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9.4
(48.9)
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4.4
(40.0)
|
16.8
(62.3)
|
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)
|
?2.4
(27.7)
|
?0.6
(31.0)
|
3.7
(38.6)
|
8.0
(46.4)
|
12.4
(54.3)
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16.2
(61.1)
|
18.5
(65.3)
|
17.9
(64.2)
|
14.5
(58.1)
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9.3
(48.7)
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3.9
(39.1)
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?0.4
(31.3)
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8.4
(47.1)
|
Average
precipitation
mm (inches)
|
38
(1.5)
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37
(1.46)
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54
(2.13)
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64
(2.52)
|
60
(2.36)
|
47
(1.85)
|
32
(1.26)
|
36
(1.42)
|
43
(1.69)
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74
(2.92)
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72
(2.84)
|
46
(1.81)
|
603
(23.75)
|
Average snowfall cm (inches)
|
4.4
(1.7)
|
3.9
(1.5)
|
2.1
(0.8)
|
0
(0)
|
0
(0)
|
0
(0)
|
0
(0)
|
0
(0)
|
0
(0)
|
0
(0)
|
0.3
(0.1)
|
1.8
(0.7)
|
12.5
(4.8)
|
Average rainy days
|
10
|
10
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
12
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9
|
11
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
10
|
134
|
Average snowy days
|
2.3
|
1.7
|
0.6
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.2
|
1.5
|
6.3
|
Average
relative humidity
(%)
|
72
|
67
|
74
|
74
|
74
|
74
|
73
|
72
|
73
|
76
|
76
|
75
|
73
|
Mean monthly
sunshine hours
|
120.9
|
132.8
|
170.5
|
195
|
223.2
|
249
|
297.6
|
269.7
|
201
|
167.4
|
114
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120.9
|
2,262
|
Mean daily
sunshine hours
|
3.9
|
4.7
|
5.5
|
6.5
|
7.2
|
8.3
|
9.6
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8.7
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6.7
|
5.4
|
3.8
|
3.9
|
6.2
|
Mean daily
daylight hours
|
9.3
|
10.5
|
12
|
13.5
|
14.9
|
15.6
|
15.2
|
14
|
12.5
|
10.9
|
9.6
|
8.8
|
12.2
|
Source 1:
Intellicast
[9]
|
Source 2: Weather Atlas(Snow-Daylight-UV)
[10]
Weather2Visit(Rainy days-Humidity-Sun)
[11]
|
Government
[
edit
]
Main sights
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
June 2008
)
|
Monuments
[
edit
]
Museums
[
edit
]
- The
Marengo Battle
Museum
- Antiquarium
Forum Fulvii
- Sale d'arte
- I percorsi del Museo Civico
- Museo del Fiume
- Museo di Scienze Naturali e Planetario
- Museo Etnografico "C'era una volta"
- Museo del Cappello Borsalino
- Sistema dei musei civici
[15]
Cemetery
[
edit
]
Events
[
edit
]
Transport
[
edit
]
Alessandria railway station
, opened in 1850, forms part of the
Turin?Genoa railway
. It is also a
junction
for six other lines, to
Piacenza
,
Novara
,
Pavia
,
Cavallermaggiore
,
Ovada
and
San Giuseppe di Cairo
, respectively.
Sport
[
edit
]
The town's professional
football
team is
US Alessandria
. Their stadium also hosts
Juventus Next Gen
, the reserve team for
Serie A
club
Juventus Turin
.
People born in Alessandria
[
edit
]
- Sibilla Aleramo
(1876?1960), writer
- Walter Audisio
(1909?1973), partisan
- Saint Baudolino
(
c.
700
? c.
740
), hermit of
Forum Fulvii
- Umberto Eco
(1932?2016), writer
- Francesco Faa di Bruno
(1825?1888), mathematician and priest
- Giovanni Ferrari
(1907?1982), footballer
- Marta Gastini
(born 1989), actress
- Blessed
Teresa Grillo Michel
(1855?1944), founder of the
Congregation of the Little Sisters of Divine Providence
[
it
]
.
- Georgius Merula
(
c.
1430
? 1494),
humanist
- Giovanni Migliara
(1785?1837), painter
- Angelo Morbelli
(1854?1919), painter
- Elio Morille
(1927?1998), rower
- Cristina Parodi
(born 1964), journalist
- Magda Piccarolo
(1912??), soprano
[18]
- Urbano Rattazzi
(1808?1873), statesman of the
Risorgimento
- Gianni Rivera
(born 1943), footballer
- Franz Sala
(1886?1952), film actor and makeup artist
- Franco Sassi
(1912?1993), painter
- Pier Paolo Scarrone
(born 1951), footballer
- Giuseppe Vermiglio
(16th?17th centuries), painter
- Giovanni Ravazzotti
(born 1943), pioneer the ceramic tile industry in South Africa
Twin towns ? sister cities
[
edit
]
Alessandria is
twinned
with:
[19]
- Argenteuil
,
France
, since 1960
- Jericho
,
Palestine
, since 2004
- Hradec Kralove
,
Czech Republic
, since 1961
- Karlovac
,
Croatia
, since 1963
- Rosario
,
Argentina
, since 1988
- Alba Iulia
,
Romania
, since 1990
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011"
. Italian National Institute of Statistics
. Retrieved
16 March
2019
.
- ^
"Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018"
. Italian National Institute of Statistics
. Retrieved
16 March
2019
.
- ^
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Alessandria"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 543.
- ^
Romanoni, Fabio (2022).
"≪E la gente di Francia malaccorta, tratta con arte ove la rete e tesa≫. La battaglia di Alessandria del 1391: il trionfo di Iacopo dal Verme"
.
Bollettino Storico-Bibliografico Subalpino
(in Italian).
120
: 243?264.
ISSN
0391-6715
. Retrieved
2 February
2023
.
- ^
Memoriale delle vittime dei bombardamenti Alleati della II Guerra Mondiale
- ^
Ricordo dell’inutile strage dal cielo: un memoriale con i nomi delle 559 vittime dei bombardamenti
- ^
Alessandria ricorda le 559 Vittime dei bombardamenti alleati della II guerra mondiale
- ^
a
b
c
"Alessandria"
.
Encyclopaedia Judaica
. The Gale Group. 2008.
- ^
"Alessandria historic weather averages"
. The Casaccia Center of Enea
. Retrieved
26 September
2009
.
- ^
"Yearly & Monthly Weather - Alessandria, Italy"
.
weather atlas
. Retrieved
13 September
2023
.
- ^
"Alessandria Weather Averages & Temperatures"
.
weather 2 visit
. Retrieved
13 September
2023
.
- ^
Schmid, Georg; Eggenberger, Oswald (2001).
Die Kirchen, Sondergruppen und religiosen Vereinigungen: ein Handbuch
. Theologischer Verlag Zurich. pp. 166?67.
ISBN
978-3-290-17215-2
. Retrieved
2 February
2012
.
- ^
"
'Gottesherrschaft' im Alltagsleben"
(PDF)
.
Siegener Zeitung
. 8 April 2006
. Retrieved
5 March
2012
.
- ^
Sabbath Rest Advent Church,
The History of the Sabbath Rest Advent Church
, 2002.
- ^
"Citta di Alessandria"
.
www.comune.alessandria.it
.
- ^
Fraskettando SkaBluesJazz Festival
official website.
Archived
2011-05-12 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Sito ufficiale del Moto Club Madonnina dei Centauri di Alessandria"
.
www.mcmadonnina.it
.
- ^
Kutsch, K. J.
;
Riemens, Leo
(2012).
"Piccarolo, Magda"
.
Großes Sangerlexikon
(in German) (4th ed.).
Walter de Gruyter
. p. 3653.
ISBN
978-3-59-844088-5
.
- ^
"Citta gemellate"
.
comune.alessandria.it
(in Italian). Alessandria
. Retrieved
13 December
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Geographic
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