Alessandria is a city in Piedmont. The third largest city in
Piedmont by number of inhabitants, its name perpetuates the memory
of Pope Alexander III. Legend has it that, during the siege of the
city by Federico Barbarossa in 1174, Gagliaudo Auleri, a poor
shepherd, decided to feed his cow all the grain he possessed, and
then go out to graze it. Barbarossa's troops immediately captured
him and slaughtered the cow. To their amazement they discovered that
the belly of the beast was full of wheat. They deduced that food was
still abundant in the city and it would not surrender in a short
time, so they gave up and Alexandria was liberated.
Geographic hints
Alessandria is a city that rises in the alluvial
plain formed by the Tanaro and Bormida rivers, near their point of
confluence; to the north it borders the Monferrato hills, rich in
vineyards and to the south the first offshoots of the Ligurian
Apennines. It is 36 km from Asti, 21 from Tortona, 39 from Voghera,
32 from Casale Monferrato.
Alessandria is characterized by a typically Po climate, with cold,
foggy winters and hot, muggy summers. The rains are not very abundant
(about 600 mm), and fall mainly in autumn and spring. It has a more
continental climate than the rest of Piedmont. Winters, due to the
greater number of foggy days, tend to be more rigid (average of +0.4
degrees in January), while summers are sultry but much sunnier and
drier: the hottest month, July, has a average temperature of +24 degrees
and it is also the driest, with 32 mm of rain often concentrated in one
or two thunderstorms (At the height of summer, Atlantic storms tend to
flow much further north).
Background
The city was born in the
second half of the 12th century with the toponym of Civitas Nova on an
already existing urban nucleus consisting of the ancient village of
Rovereto. The city was officially founded in 1168 and in that year it
assumed its present name in honor of Pope Alexander III, who in that
period promulgated the actions against the Holy Roman Empire and who had
excommunicated Frederick Barbarossa.
On 29 October 1174
Alexandria suffered an attack by the imperial forces which had already
conquered Susa and Asti in the previous months and which however
remained blocked in front of the moat that surrounded the city: thus
began a long siege which ended on 12 April 1175, Good Friday, with the
surrender of Barbarossa's men. In 1183, after the Peace of Constance and
on the orders of the Empire, the city assumed the name of Cesarea, but
kept it for a short time. In 1198 it became a free municipality.
In the Middle Ages, Alessandria for over two centuries maintained the
condition of a free municipality, coming into conflict with the nearby
Casale, which was still part of the Marquisate of Monferrato, with Asti
and with Pavia, which feared its possible expansion. The city, then
known by the name of Alessandria della palude, later passed under the
protection of the Visconti and subsequently under the Duchy of Milan. It
was probably at the beginning of the 13th century that a Jewish
community settled in the city and later founded a synagogue there.
In 1707 it was conquered by the Savoys and in 1802, after the battle
of Marengo, it was annexed to France together with the whole region.
Conquered in 1814 by the Austrians after the treaties of Paris, it was
returned to the Savoys. During the Risorgimento, Alessandria was an
important liberal center. The birth of the railways and the increase in
trade in Northern Italy at the end of the 19th century transformed
Alessandria into one of the focal points for the Italian market. Due to
its position, at the center of the connections between Turin, Milan and
Genoa, the city experienced a great demographic increase in this period.
Under Fascism Alessandria maintained its importance; in the thirties
important public buildings and architectural works were erected, such as
the Dispensario Antiturbercolare, designed by Ignazio Gardella and the
Palazzo delle Poste e dei Telegrafi, designed by the architect Franco
Petrucci and decorated with mosaics by Gino Severini.
During the
Second World War, the city suffered repeated heavy aerial bombardments
and its Synagogue was looted and partially destroyed. After the war,
Alessandria followed the fortunes of Northern Italy, experiencing
initially that development and that form of well-being that spread in
the North during the sixties with the economic boom, also experiencing
the immigration of people from the southern regions and reaching exceed
100,000 inhabitants in 1970.
Subsequently, when the effects of
the economic boom subsided, Alexandria experienced a demographic
decline. In 1998 it became the headquarters, together with Novara and
Vercelli, of the University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro".
Its historic center is enclosed between the avenues that have
replaced the ancient fortifications; still today they are not called
avenues as in many other cities, but stands. Piazza della Libertà is the
heart of the city that brings together the main administration buildings
at the municipal and supra-municipal level, and services; nearby is the
nucleus of the religious city, with the cathedral. The architectural
aspect of Alessandria is permeated by the elegant and austere Savoy
style that derives from the important urban interventions of the late
nineteenth century and unites it to many other Piedmontese cities.
Neighborhoods
Its extensive municipal area, the largest in the
region, includes the towns of Astuti, Cabanette, Cantalupo,
Casalbagliano, Cascinagrossa, Castelceriolo, Gerlotti, Litta Parodi,
Lobbi, Mandrogne, San Giuliano Nuovo, San Giuliano Vecchio, San Michele,
as well as the city. , Spinetta Marengo, Valmadonna, Valle San
Bartolomeo and Villa del Foro.
By plane
The closest and most convenient airports to reach are
Turin, Linate and Milan Malpensa (via Gravellona), both in just over an
hour.
By car
It has toll booths:
A21 motorway on the A21
Turin - Brescia motorway: Alessandria east and Alessandria west; this
motorway crosses the A7 motorway a short distance from the city.
Motorway A7 Milan - Genoa;
A26 motorway on the A26 Genova -
Gravellona Toce motorway: Alessandria south
On the train
Railway station, Piazzale Curiel, 8. Timetables, reservations and ticket
sales on the Trenitalia website.
Milan, Genoa and Turin are all about
an hour away by train.
By bus
Troiolo Bus, Corso Garibaldi,
185 - Siderno, ☎ +39 0964 381325, fax: +39 0964 381325,
info@troiolobus.com. The company allows the direct connection of
Alessandria with Africo, Ardore, Badolato, Bianco, Bovalino,
Brancaleone, Catanzaro, Catanzaro Lido, Caulonia, Davoli, Guardavalle,
Isca sull'Ionio, Lamezia Terme, Locri, Marina di Gioiosa Ionica,
Monasterace, Montepaone, Polistena, Riace, Roccella Jonica, Rosarno,
Sant'Andrea Apostolo dello Jonio, Santa Caterina, Siderno, Soverato,
Squillace, Taurianova and Vibo Valentia; not all connections are daily.
The center can be easily explored on foot or by bike.
By
public transport
For all the information relating to the urban public
transport lines, consult the ATM website.
By taxi
Taxi, Piazza
della Libertà, 3, ☎ +39 0131 253031.
Taxi, Piazzale Stazione F.S., ☎
+39 0131 251632.
By car
For all information relating to
parking, consult the ATM website
Palatium Vetus. The palace, in the central Piazza della Libertà, was
built around 1170. It served as a Broletto in the 13th and 14th
centuries, therefore the center of the political, administrative and
judicial life of the medieval municipality. After many vicissitudes, in
1856 the Municipality of Alessandria gave it to the State which arranged
the guardhouse of the Division Headquarters. Until 1995, the building
housed the Presidium and the Military District and, since 2012, it has
been the headquarters of the Alessandria savings bank foundation which
has fully financed the restoration.
Palazzo del Municipio (Palazzo
Rosso (from the color of the facade)). Built in the 18th century, it
features a particular three-dial clock (note the cockerel on the top
stolen by the Alessandrini from the Casalesi in 1225); destroyed by war
bombing in 1944, the building that stands today is the result of a
subsequent reconstruction.
Palazzo Ghilini. Built by Tommaso
Ottaviano Antonio Ghilini, Marquis of the homonymous family, it is today
the seat of the Provincial Administration and the Prefecture. Designed
by Benedetto Alfieri in 1733, with exquisite Baroque shapes, it is
considered the most beautiful and monumental in the city.
Palazzo
Guasco, Via Guasco. Located in the homonymous via Guasco, its history
dates back to the first centuries after the foundation of the city. The
current conformation is from the eighteenth century. The right wing of
the building is today the seat of some sections of the Provincial
Administration. Awaiting restoration of some halls of the building which
retain the eighteenth-century architectural structure. The left wing of
the building, on the other hand, is still private property. Noteworthy
is the small theatre, not open to the public, inside the private wing.
Palazzo dal Pozzo, Piazzetta Santa Lucia. Dating back to the eighteenth
century, its style is purely Baroque. The palace belonged to the
marquises dal Pozzo, one of the most important families in Alessandria.
The marquises dal Pozzo also owned all the blocks around via Maestra
(now via Milano), starting from the small square of San Giovanni delle
Rane (now the small square of Santa Lucia) up to the small square of
Monserrato.
It was built in the second half of the eighteenth
century, by an unknown architect in the typical Piedmontese Baroque
style, on two floors above ground as required by the use of the place
and according to military needs. The facade is made richer by very
beautiful wrought iron balconies and the windows alternate angular and
curvilinear elements in their tympanums, creating an excellent ratio of
full and empty spaces. From some architectural elements found on the
ground floor, it is assumed that the building must have had an internal
courtyard-garden.
The staircase, which is rich in stucco, is built
with motifs that simulate hanging vaults and is appreciable for its
relationships and proportions. On the main floor, in the typical style
of eighteenth-century houses, there are the rooms used for servants
aligned one to the other on the internal and external front. According
to the Alessandrian historian Fausto Bima "The building has two
characteristics: that of all well-proportioned rooms, without the usual
contrast of height and size between halls and lounges and that of a
series of decorations on the walls and ceilings which they represent the
average of what was used in a Piedmontese patrician house in the second
half of the 18th century. Nothing modest and not even anything
ostentatiously sumptuous: the golden mean".
From 1862 to 1868, the
building housed the Società del Casino and for a few decades the
Notarial Archives and from 1962 to 1982 again the Società del Casino.
edit
Triumphal arch, via Dante. It was erected in 1768 in memory of
the visit of Vittorio Amedeo III and Maria Antonia of Spain. It is a
rare example of an eighteenth-century arch.
Prati Palace of
Rovagnasco. Built in the mid-eighteenth century by the Marquis Carlo
Giacinto Prati, the current building was restructured and partly altered
after the Second World War and is distributed over three floors which
wind in a U-shaped plan around a central courtyard: a main body that
overlooks via XXIV Maggio and two side wings along via Giuseppe Verdi
and via San Giacomo della Vittoria. The typical decorative elements of
the Baroque style are reduced according to a taste now oriented, as in
contemporary buildings, towards forms of classical austerity, so much so
that the building can be considered the most severe among the stately
homes of the 18th century in Alessandria.
Villa Guerci.
Anti-tuberculosis dispensary and provincial hygiene and prophylaxis
laboratory. Works by Ignazio Gardella, built between 1934 and 1939, are
considered masterpieces of Italian Rationalist architecture.
Post
Office building. Built between 1939 and 1941 in a purely rationalist
style, it is decorated with a 38-metre long mosaic by Gino Severini on
the façade. The distinctive mosaic tells the story of telegraph and
postal services.
Borsalino house. Work of the architect Ignazio
Gardella designed between 1949 and 1951 and built in 1952.
Cathedral,
Piazza Giovanni XXIII. Almost adjacent to piazza della Libertà is the
small and elegant piazza del Duomo, with the new neoclassical cathedral
of (1810-1849) which preserves the wooden statue of the Madonna della
Salve inside; on the left side of the façade stands Gagliaudo holding a
Lodi cheese, a Romanesque sculpture depicting the Alexandrian hero who,
according to legend, distinguished himself during the siege of
Barbarossa. Note on the right side of the Cathedral the very tall and
imposing bell tower in eclectic taste, built on several occasions
between the last decade of the 19th century and 1922; with its 106
meters of height it is the third highest in Italy after the bell tower
of Mortegliano and the Torrazzo of Cremona. The bell tower contains a
concert of 5 bells in C3 major.
Santa Maria di Castello, Piazza Santa
Maria di Castello. Built over an earlier church in the 14th century, the
remains of which can still be found under the floor. The oldest church
in the city, located in the ancient village of Rovereto, blends in its
structure styles from different eras, such as the late Romanesque
construction with the Renaissance portal and, inside, various works from
later eras (the crucifix, the altar, the baptismal font, the sacristy).
Also in the basement you can see the remains of two previous churches.
At the beginning of the 12th century it was governed by the secular
canons; in 1268 it passed to the Monks of Santa Croce di Mortara, then
in the 15th century to the Lateran Canons until the order was suppressed
in 1798.
After the Napoleonic period, entrusted to the Somaschi
Fathers and then to the Sisters of Charity, it was used for civil and
hospital uses with the adjoining convent during the wars of the
Risorgimento and the First World War. After 1918 the Salesian nuns
opened a school there.
Church of San Gaudentius martyr.
Greek-Byzantine Rite Catholic Church built in 1994 for the Romanian,
Moldovan, Serbian, Montenegrin, Greek, Bulgarian communities and for the
Serbian minority of Croatia.
Church of Our Lady of Loreto, Via Plana.
Built by the Dominicans between 1828 and 1833, it became municipal
property in 1855; the adjoining convent housed the Liceo Ginnasio. The
church returned to the Dominicans in the nineteenth century, and they
built a new convent there; the previous one remained used as a school.
Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Via Guasco. Around the middle of the
fourteenth century it was built by the Carmelites according to the
dictates of the Gothic, then enlarged from 1466 until the end of the
sixteenth century. Used as a military hospital during the War of the
Austrian Succession in the eighteenth century, it was restored from 1865
with works that lasted until 1954.
Church of Saints Sebastiano and
Dalmazzo, Via San Dalmazzo. It was rebuilt by the Benedictines on the
site of a previous church in 1741. Deconsecrated at the end of the 19th
century, it then returned to worship and in 1955 was given to the
Apostle Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
Church of Santa Maria "Domus
Magnae", Via Ghilini. The name derives from having been built near a
large house that reached up to via Dante. Already documented in 1486, it
belonged to the Observant Minors. In the eighteenth century it was
rebuilt. In the second half of the twentieth century it was used by the
Police Headquarters. It is now municipal property.
Church of the
Blessed Virgin of the Assumption, Via Guasco/via Canefri. Formerly
dedicated to San Rocco, it stands at the crossroads of several roads and
was probably built on the occasion of a plague. Documented for the first
time in 1618, the church was rebuilt in 1788 and dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin. It is sponsored by some families.
Church of the
Blessed Virgin of Grace, Via Mondovì. The first fifteenth-century
building was rebuilt in 1663; Further transformations have brought the
small church to its current appearance, which houses the ancient
simulacrum of the Virgin which popular tradition calls the Madonnina.
Church of the Blessed Virgin of Monserrato, Piazzetta Monserrato. Its
construction dates back to the first decades of the seventeenth century;
the church is the only public building left among those built in the
period during which the city was dominated by the Spaniards,
particularly devoted to the Virgin of Monserrato.
Former Jesuit
College, Piazza Santo Stefano. It was the Society of Jesus who built the
building in the first half of the eighteenth century. It originally
occupied an area of six thousand square meters. With the suppression of
the Company in 1773, the large complex was used as a barracks, a
military district, a shelter for the homeless during the war. It now
houses homes.
Church of Saints Stefano and Martino, Piazza Santo
Stefano. The Servites built it in the eighteenth century; with the
suppression of the order it became a warehouse. It returned to the
parish seat in the early nineteenth century, adding San Martino to the
title; the small convent annexed to the building became the rectory.
Church of Saints Lucia and Paul, Piazzetta Santa Lucia. It was built on
the previous temple dedicated to San Giovanni delle rane, documented in
the fifteenth century, which became the seat of four brotherhoods
between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The ancient church was
demolished in 1751; the new one was consecrated in 1759. On the occasion
of the feast of Santa Lucia on 13 December, the square becomes a place
for sacred and profane celebrations, with stalls offering the
traditional Lecabon.
Synagogue, Via Milano. It rises in the area of
the old ghetto, imposed by the Savoy from 1723 to 1848. It is a
monumental example of an Italian nineteenth-century synagogue. The
temple has a neo-Gothic style facade with three orders of windows with
pilasters and white moldings. A plaque today commemorates the deportees
of the Holocaust. Inside you enter the winter temple, now normally used
for functions, and through a long corridor to the staircase that leads
to the large room on the first floor, lit by large polychrome glass
windows. The original ark was destroyed during the looting of the Second
World War and was replaced by that of the Nizza Monferrato synagogue,
now dismantled. The women's gallery has a loggia on the entrance wall,
with two superimposed orders.
Military citadel. It rises on the left
bank of the Tanaro river. It is an imposing military building built on a
project by Ignazio Bertola, one of the most important in the world. The
construction, commissioned by Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy in the 18th
century, involved the evacuation and demolition of the entire Borgoglio
district. Owned by the State Property Agency, it can be visited today
thanks to the guides prepared by the FAI: it has a star-shaped plan,
with six bastions surrounded by moats. Of notable architectural-military
interest are the military quarters with the eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century buildings.
Natural monuments
Napoleon's
plane tree. Along the former state road n. 10 which connects Alessandria
to Spinetta Marengo stands the so-called Napoleone plane tree, one of
the largest monumental trees in Italy. Legend has it that it was planted
in 1800 following the victory over the Austrians at the battle of
Marengo. The plane tree, of the Platanus occidentalis species, is forty
meters high and has a circumference at the base of the trunk of almost
eight metres. It seems that until the beginning of the 20th century
there were still five surviving examples of a complete avenue that
reached from the gates of Alessandria to Marengo. Coordinates of the
plane tree: +44° 54' 28.17", +8° 38' 23.70".
The Alessandria area, being close to Monferrato and Langhe, has
excellent wines. For beer, there are several pubs in the city that offer
from simple draft beers to more sought-after craft beers. As for
cocktails, they are found almost everywhere even if it is difficult for
them to be prepared properly.
John's Pub, Via Mondovì, 12 (Near
Piazza Garibaldi). They serve a very honest draft Gordon Gold for less
than 5 euros. edit
Britannia (In the stadium area). Until late at
night. edit
Gasthaus (In the stadium area). Until late at night. edit
Caffè degli Artisti, Via Vochieri, 11 (Near the Piazzetta della Lega).
Great place for cocktails. edit
The downtown area offers various
places which, especially during the weekend, fill up with customers
based on the fashions of the year. In the late evening, however, the
situation languishes, moving to those few places that stay open late
without offering much and often asking for too high prices. In the
surroundings of Alessandria there are various discos, above all the Luna
Rossa and a few places for live music.
There are numerous pastry shops, some very famous for their pastas
and cakes. As for the traditional Alessandrian dishes, many come from
the poor cuisine of the peasants, today highly sought-after dishes
including agnolotti, bagna caoda, risotto al Barolo, green rabaton,
mixed boiled meat, chicken marengo, green bath, bonet.
The wines
are also exceptionally good as they come from the nearby hills of
Monferrato and the Langhe. Some notable examples are: Barbera, Barolo,
Grignolino, Freisa, Ruche, Malvasia di Casorzo and many others.
Average prices
The Cluster.
Arcimboldo.
Group of greedy.
It rises about 100 meters above sea level. in the alluvial plain formed by the Tanaro and Bormida rivers, near their confluence point. Thanks to its position in the center of the Turin-Genoa-Milan triangle, the city is an important motorway and railway junction with a sorting terminal, located in the south-west of the passenger station. It is served by the A21 motorway and the A26 motorway. It is a city characterized by long and wide multi-lane avenues and by large and airy squares.
Alessandria is characterized by a typically Po valley climate with cold and foggy winters and hot and sultry summers. The rains are not very abundant (about 600 mm), and fall mainly in autumn and spring. Alessandria has a more continental climate than the rest of Piedmont. The winters, due to the greater number of foggy days, tend to be more rigid (average of +0.4 degrees in January), while the summers are sultry but much sunnier and drier: the hottest month, July, has a average temperature of +24 degrees and it is also the driest, with 32 mm of rain often concentrated in one or two thunderstorms (at the height of summer the Atlantic perturbations tend to flow much further north).
Ancient age
Before the Roman conquest the territory of Alexandria was inhabited
by the Statielli, a population that belonged to the Ligurian group.
Towards the end of the third century BC the Roman conquest of
Cisalpine Gaul took place, during which a large part of the Ligurian
population was exterminated. In 42 BC the province of Cisalpine Gaul
was abolished and incorporated into Roman Italy. One of the Roman
camps on the Tanaro probably became the village of Bergoglio.
Following the fall of the Roman Empire and the establishment of the
Ostrogothic and Longobard kingdoms, the territory was reorganized
into courts, including that of Marengo; here, in the 8th century,
the Tower of Teodolinda was built.
Medieval age
The
control of Italy in 774 passed from the Lombards to the Carolingian
Empire. The birth of the Rovereto court probably dates back to this
period, and will play a central role in the birth of Alessandria. In
962 the king of Germany Otto I of Saxony conquered the kingdom of
Italy and established the Holy Roman Empire. The Italian cities,
however, maintained great autonomy and were forced to pay taxes to
the emperor only when he traveled to Italy. Federico Barbarossa
decided that the situation had to change, so he instituted the diet
of Roncaglia and, in 1162, destroyed Milan, the most important town
of the time. The other municipalities then decided to unite to fight
against the emperor, to maintain their autonomy, so they created the
Lombard League. To attract Barbarossa to Italy, the League decided
to create a new civitas, an act that was an exclusively imperial
privilege. The city, known simply as Civitas Nova, was established
in the territory of Rovereto, both because it was located near the
lands of the Marquis of Monferrato, a faithful ally of the empire,
and because, positioned between the Tanaro and Bormida rivers, it
enjoyed a easily defensible. The city was populated with the
contribution of the neighboring villages and fortified with funds
from the municipality of Genoa. On May 3, 1168 the three consuls of
Civitas Nova signed the adhesion to the Lombard League near Lodi and
two years later the city was offered to Pope Alexander III, who
agreed to make it his fief and, in doing so, to legitimize the
struggle. of the communes against the empire. The name of the city
was then changed to Alexandria, to make explicit its belonging to
the State of the Church.
The provocation of the
municipalities had the desired effect: the emperor arrived in Italy
in 1174 and on 29 October, after having destroyed Susa and obtained
the surrender of Asti, he laid siege to Alexandria. Beyond all
expectations, the Alexandrians resisted the attacks throughout the
winter; on 12 April the emperor surrendered, as the League army was
moving in defense of Alexandria. The armies met near Montebello, but
instead of fighting they suspended hostilities to negotiate peace.
The failure of the negotiations resulted in the famous battle of
Legnano, which constituted a clear defeat for Federico Barbarossa.
However, during the Peace of Constance control of Alexandria passed
directly to the emperor and the city was renamed Caesarea
(Kaiserstadt).
The free municipality
The city was granted as a fief to Bonifacio I del Monferrato in
1193. A few years later, however, the citizens of the city rebelled
against the imperial authority, abandoning the name Cesarea and
making an alliance with the nearby Asti and Vercelli, but the
dispute was resolved by the arbitration of the municipalities of
Milan and Piacenza. A period of truce thus began for Alessandria and
the marquisate of Monferrato, characterized by countless diplomatic
disputes and sporadic alliances. Allies of Vercelli, the
Alexandrians participated in the destruction of Casale Monferrato in
1215: on this occasion the Alexandrian soldiers stole the bodies of
the saints Evasio, Natale and Proietto from the cathedral of Casale,
and two brass statues representing a cockerel and an angel, which
placed on the pinnacles of their cathedral. The clashes with
Monferrato were rekindled in 1228, when Bonifacio II allied himself
with Asti and waged war in Alessandria. The intervention of the
second Lombard League, which besieged Mombaruzzo, convinced the
marquis to surrender.
In the second half of the 13th century,
the political equilibrium of Piedmont changed, due to the
expansionist aims of the house of Anjou. Alexandria, together with
many other municipalities, therefore decided to appoint William VII
of Monferrato as captain of the city. In 1291, however, the citizens
of Asti, also subjected to William VII, promised the Alexandrians
85,000 gold florins in exchange for the capture of the marquis.
Lured to the city under a pretext, William VII was imprisoned and
starved to death a few months later. His son Giovanni I waged war
against Asti and subdued it, but died without heirs in 1303. Charles
II of Anjou took the opportunity to occupy all the towns south of
the Tanaro, establishing the county of Piedmont.
In 1345,
following the battle of Gamenario, the army of Monferrato and that
of the municipality of Milan divided the Angevin lands; Alexandria,
therefore, passed under the protection of Luchino Visconti. The
victory in the battle of Alessandria allowed Gian Galeazzo Visconti
to unify his territories in the Duchy of Milan. The centralization
of power in the hands of the duke, however, pushed the citizens of
Alessandria to rise up in 1403. The revolt was quelled by the
Casalese leader Facino Cane, who took advantage of it to return the
bodies of the saints stolen two centuries earlier to Casale. The
leader, who dreamed of creating his own state, made himself lord of
Alexandria, but with his death in 1412, the city returned to full
possession of the Visconti.
In 1447 the Visconti dynasty died
out and the citizens of Milan proclaimed the Ambrosian republic.
Charles of Valois, Duke of Orleans and lord of Asti boasted a right
over the dukedom and, therefore, began the invasion of the Milanese
lands by sacking and destroying the castles of Annone and Felizzano.
The Alexandrians, led by Bartolomeo Colleoni, broke the siege of
Bosco Marengo and defeated the Asti inhabitants, putting an end to
the claim of the Orléans.
Modern Age
The Alessandria
countryside, therefore, remained permanently in the Milanese lands
and its fate followed: at first the Sforza family restored the
duchy, which was then occupied several times by the French, guilty
of sacking the city in September 1527, and finally it became a
Spanish province. With the submission first to Milan and then to
Spain, Alexandria lost the autonomy that had characterized it since
its foundation, but the stability gained allowed it to develop and
become an important commercial hub between Genoa and Lombardy. The
bridge over the Tanaro, whose construction had begun in 1455 by the
will of Francesco Sforza, was equipped with a new flooring and a
roof during the seventeenth century.
The city was also
affected by the Franco-Spanish war: the French army, led by Armando
di Borbone and that of Modena, led by Francesco I d'Este, besieged
the city in 1657, but were unsuccessful and Alexandria remained
Spanish. .
In 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession,
Alexandria was occupied by the imperial army, commanded by Prince
Eugene. At the end of the conflict, the Utrecht treaty sanctioned
its annexation to the Duchy of Savoy. The strategic position of the
city, bordering the Lombard provinces in the hands of Austria,
prompted Vittorio Amedeo II to fortify it militarily, building an
imposing star-shaped citadel, which took the place of Bergoglio. The
defeat in the battle of Bassignana and the subsequent French siege
of the new citadel seemed to mark the fate of the Savoy in the war
of the Austrian succession, but the situation was reversed by the
subsequent battle of Piacenza.
Contemporary Age
The
Napoleonic period
The first campaign of Italy, due to the expansionist aims of
revolutionary France, caused the French occupation of the citadel.
The Russian army, a member of the second coalition and commanded by
Aleksandr Vasil'evič Suvorov, drove out the French in 1799. With the
French victory in the second campaign of Italy, concluded by the
battle of Marengo, fought in the Alexandrian territory, the entire
duchy of Savoy passed under the French occupation. The official
annexation to France took place two years later, in 1802, and
Alexandria became the capital of the department of Marengo. Napoleon
decided on major architectural renovations for the city: the citadel
was enlarged and fortified and the old gothic cathedral was
demolished in favor of a new one, in neoclassical style. The brass
rooster stolen from the Casalesi was moved to the town hall, while
the angel disappeared. Subsequently, in 1814, the city was conquered
by the Austrians and on May 30 of that same year, after the Treaty
of Paris, it returned to be part of the Duchy of Savoy.
The
Renaissance
The Piedmontese insurrection of March 1821, included
in the context of the uprisings of 1820-1821, departed from
Alessandria: the insurgents, led by Santorre di Santarosa, took
control of the citadel and proclaimed the constitution, hoisting a
tricolor flag for the first time in history of the Risorgimento (it
is not clear whether green, white and red or other colors) The
revolt, which failed, pushed Carlo Felice of Savoy to yield to the
pressure of the Austrian empire, which had previously proposed a
preventive occupation of the citadel to the king of Sardinia to
fight a possible insurrection, aiming to move the western border of
the empire in Alexandria. The citadel underwent foreign occupation
for two years. Andrea Vochieri and five soldiers who had
participated in the insurrection were later shot.
In 1834 the
demolition of the walls began, which ended only in the sixties of
the twentieth century.
In 1847 the city was incorporated into
the kingdom of Sardinia. The Austrian victory in the first Italian
war of independence led to the armistice of Vignale, with which
Austria obtained, for the second time, permission to occupy the
citadel. This time, however, for a few months, thanks to pressure
from France and England, who considered the conditions imposed too
severe. Furthermore, during the war, the Sardinian government, which
feared an Austrian advance, decided to remove the cover of the
bridge, so as to facilitate its eventual demolition. In October 1859
it was chosen as one of the first four Piedmontese provinces. In
1861 the kingdom of Sardinia became the kingdom of Italy.
Italian Alexandria
The birth of the railways and the increase in
trade in Northern Italy at the end of the nineteenth century
transformed Alessandria into one of the nerve centers for the
Italian market. Due to its position, between Turin, Milan and Genoa,
the city experienced a great demographic increase, which led to an
expansion of the city territory, and to an important industrial
development, testified by the success of companies such as Paglieri
cosmetics, Gandini perfumes. and, above all, Borsalino, whose
production of characteristic felt hats became famous all over the
world. In 1891 the new bridge over the Tanaro was inaugurated, in
brick and stone. On 25 July 1899 it became the first Italian
provincial capital city to be governed by a majority socialist
junta.
During the Second World War, the city suffered
repeated and heavy aerial bombardments and its synagogue was sacked
and partially destroyed.
After the war, Alessandria followed
the fate of northern Italy, initially knowing that development and
that form of well-being that spread to the north with the economic
boom. The city was also shaken by the news events with a political
background that bloodied Italy in the seventies: on 9 and 10 May
1974, a revolt inside the prison was tragically resolved, with 7
people dead and 14 injured: this episode was remembered as the
"Massacre of Alexandria". Furthermore, it was in a farmhouse near
the Piedmontese city that the first meetings of the Red Brigades
group were held and the Gancia kidnapping took place.
On
November 6, 1994, Alessandria was heavily hit by a severe flood,
which hit large residential areas (especially the Orti, Rovereto,
Borgoglio, Borgo Cittadella, Astuti and San Michele districts) and
various hamlets, causing the death of eleven people.
In 1998
the city became the seat, together with Novara and Vercelli, of the
University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro". In 2001 a new
bridge over the Tanaro was inaugurated, the Tiziano bridge; the
Cittadella bridge was also rebuilt again in 2016.