Vercelli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Comune di Vercelli | |
|---|---|
 Municipal coat of arms |
|
| Country |  Italy |
| Region | Piedmont |
| Province | Province of Vercelli (VC) |
| Mayor | Andrea Corsaro (since 2004-06-27) |
| Elevation | 130 m |
| Area | 79 km² |
| Population | |
| - Total (as of 2004-12-04) | 44,967 |
| - Density | 569/km² |
| Time zone | CET, UTC+1 |
| Coordinates | |
| Gentilic | Vercellesi |
| Dialing code | 0161 |
| Postal code | 13100 |
| Patron | Eusebius of Vercelli |
| - Day | August 1 |
| Website: www.comune.vercelli.it | |
Vercelli (Varséj in Piedmontese; Vercellae in Latin) is a commune and city of about 46,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 B.C.
The town is situated in the Pianura Padana, between Milan and Turin. It is an important centre for the cultivation of rice, and is surrounded by paddy fields, which are flooded in summer.
In Vercelli the world's first University funded by public money was established in 1228. Today Vercelli has a University of Literature and Philosophy as a part of the Università del Piemonte Orientale (or East Piedmont University) and a satellite campus of the Politecnico di Torino.
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[edit] History
Vercellae (Vercelum) was a city of the Libici or Lebecili, a Ligurian tribe; it became an important municipium, near which Gaius Marius defeated the Cimbri and the Teutones in the Battle of Vercellae nearby in 101 BCE.
Imperial magister militum Flavius Stilicho annihilated the Goths there 500 years later. It was half ruined in St. Jerome's time. After the Lombard invasion it belonged to the Duchy of Ivrea. From 885 it was under the jurisdiction of the prince-bishop, who was a count of the empire.
It became an independent commune in 1120, and joined the first and second Lombard leagues. Its statutes are among the most interesting of those of the medieval republics. In 1197 they abolished the servitude of the glebe. In 1228 the University of Pavia was transferred to Vercelli, where it remained till the fourteenth century, but without gaining much prominence; only a university school of law has been maintained.
During the troubles of the thirteenth century it fell into the power of the Della Torre of Milan (1263), of the Marquesses of Monferrato (1277), who appointed Matteo Visconti captain (1290-9). The Tizzoni (Ghibellines ) and Avogadri (Guelphs, the other party during the Investitures Strife) disputed the city from 1301 to 1334, the latter party being expelled several times, thus enabling the Marquess of Monferrato to take Vercelli (1328), which voluntarily placed itself under the Viscount of Milan in 1334. In 1373 Bishop Giovanni Fieschi expelled the Visconti, but Matteo reconquered the city. Facino Cane (1402), profiting by the strife between Giovani Maria and Filippo Maria Visconti, took Vercelli, but was driven out by Teodoro di Monferrato (1404), from whom the city passed to the dukes of Savoy (1427).
In 1499 and 1553 it was captured by the French, and in 1616 and 1678 by the Spaniards. In 1704 it sustained an energetic siege by the French, who failed to destroy the fortress; after this it shared the fortunes of Savoy. In 1821 Vercelli rose in favour of the Constitution.
[edit] Ecclesiastical history
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vercelli (in Latin, Archidioecesis Vercellensis) is one of the two archdioceses which form the ecclesiastical region of Piedmont. The dioceses suffragan to Vercelli are: Alessandria (della Paglia), Biella, Casale Monferrato and Novara.
According to an ancient lectionary the Gospel was first preached in Vercelli in the second half of the third century by Saints Sabinianus and Martialis, bishops from Gaul, when they were returning to their dioceses. The episcopal see was not established till after the Peace of Constantine. The first bishop was St. Eusebius, a Sardinian, a lector of the Roman Church and a strenuous opponent of Arianism. From Vercelli the Gospel spread through the valley of the Po and its environs; towards the end of the fourth century, perhaps even during the episcopate of St. Eusebius, new dioceses were erected. From Eusebius to Nottingo (830) there were forty bishops, whose images were preserved in the Eusebian basilica (or Basilica Cattedrale S. Eusebio), so called because St. Eusebius, who dedicated it to the martyr St. Theonestus, was interred in it. He introduced the common and monastic life among his clergy, from whom bishops for the surrounding territory were often selected.
Among his successors were: St. Simenus (370), who baptized and consecrated St. Ambrose; St. Honoratus (396), who administered the Viaticum to St. Ambrose; St. Justinianus (living in 451); St. AEmilianus (about 500) built an aqueduct for the city at his own expense; St. Flavianus (541); St. Celsus (665); Norgaudus (844) restored common life among the canons; Liutuardus (880), who had been archchancellor of Charles the Fat (deposed later) and was slain during the invasion of the Huns (899), like Regenbertus (904- 24); Atto of Vercelli, (d. 960), reformer of ecclesiastical discipline; Petrus (978), imprisoned in the Holy Land by the Egyptian Muslims; Leo (999), chancellor of Holy Roman Emperors Otto III and Henry II; Gisulfus (1133) re-established common life among the canons in 1144; St. Albertus (1185-1204), founder of the chair of theology, later Patriarch of Jerusalem; Renerio Avogadro (1296) opposed the partisans of the heretic Fra Dolcino; Guglielmo Didier (1437), an elector of the antipope Felix V; Giuliano della Rovere (1502), later Pope Julius II (1503); Cardinal Guido Ferrerio (1562), founder of the seminary, embellished the cathedral and introduced the Tridentine reform; Gianfrancesco Bonomo (1572) continued the reform and replaced (1573) the Eusebian Rite by the Roman. In 1817 the Diocese of Vercelli, then suffragan of the archbishopric of Turin (but previously of the archbishopric of Milan) was made an archdiocese, the first archbishop being Giuseppe di Grimaldi.
In the early 20th century the Catholic Encyclopedia reported that the archdiocese contained 136 parishes; 250,000 inhabitants; 447 secular and 33 regular priests; 7 houses of religious (men) and 4 of nuns; 4 educational institutes for boys and 8 for girls. The religious periodicals were "L'unione" (weekly) and "La santa infanzia" (monthly).
[edit] Main sights
There are many relics of the Roman period, e.g. an amphitheatre, hippodrome, sarcophagi, many important inscriptions, some of which are Christian.
There are two noteworthy towers in the town: the Torre dell’Angelo which rears up over the old market square and the Torre di Città in Via Gioberti.
The Cathedral, formerly adorned with precious pillars and mosaics, was erected and enlarged by St Eusebius of Vercelli, to whom it was dedicated after his death. It was remodelled in the ninth century, and radically changed in the sixteenth by Count Alfieri. Like the other churches in the city it contains valuable paintings, especially those of Gaudenzio Ferrari, Giovenone and Lanino, who were natives of Vercelli. The cathedral library holds the famous Vercelli Book—an Old English manuscript which includes the celebrated alliterative poem The Dream of the Rood, the 8th century Laws of the Lombards and other early manuscripts.
The Basilica di Sant’Andrea was erected by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri in 1219: together with the old Cistercian monastery, it is one of the most beautiful and best preserved Romanesque monuments in Italy.
Among other noteworthy churches is Santa Maria Maggiore.
There is an Institute of the Beaux-Arts, containing paintings by Vercellese artists.
There are old charitable institutions, like the hospital founded by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (11224), which has an annual revenue of more than 600,000 lire ($117,000); the hospices for orphan girls (1553) and for boys (1542) and mendicant homes.
The archives of the metropolitan chapter contain valuable manuscripts including an evangelarium of the fourth century, the "Novels" of Justinian, the "Leges Langobardorum", the "Capitulare regum Francorum", also hagiographical manuscripts, not all of which have been critically examined, and a very old copy of the "Imitation of Christ", which is relied upon as an argument for attributing the authorship of the work to John Gersen. The civil archives are not less important, and contain documents dating from 882. The extensive seminary contains a large library.
[edit] Museums
The Museo Borgogna has an important collection of paintings, including examples of the work of Titian and Jan Brueghel the Elder as well as that of Piedmontese painters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The Museo Camillo Leone holds a rich collection of objects of archaeological and historic interest and of decorative art.
[edit] Natives of Vercelli
- bishop Atto II of Vercelli
- William of Montevergine (1085–1142) a wanderer, ascetic and founder of a number of monastic houses.
- Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (1477–1549?), also known as Il Sodoma, an Italian Mannerist painter.
- Angelo Gilardino (born 1941), composer and classical guitarist.
[edit] Culinary matters
The typical dish is rice with beans, called panissa. The typical wine is Gattinara DOCG, a classic red wine of Piedmont made principally from the nebbiolo grape (known locally as spanna) from the comune of Gattinara, where there is archaeological evidence of vines being grown in Roman times.
[edit] Sport
Unione Sportiva Pro Vercelli was one of the most successful football clubs in Italy in earlier times, winning the national championship seven times between 1908 and 1922. Today it competes in the Serie C2.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- vercelli.net has a range of articles, in Italian, on the history, architecture, gastronomy, etc, of Vercelli.
- Vercelli is a short article in English on the history and archaeology of the town from archeovercelli.it, the site of the Gruppo Archeologico Vercellese.
- dumsinandi.com the Divine Comedy in three languages: Vercellese,English and Italian
[edit] Sources and references
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia. [1]
- Macadam, Alta (1997). Blue Guide. Northern Italy: from the Alps to Bologna. London: A & C Black. ISBN 0-7136-4294-7.
- Museo Borgogna.
- Museo Camillo Leone.
- Vini Italiani DOCG: Gattinara DOCG.
