Province of Alessandria

Province of Alessandria
—  Province  —
Map highlighting the location of the province of Alessandria in Italy
Country  Italy
Region Piedmont
Capital(s) Alessandria
Comuni 190
Government
 • President Paolo Filippi
Area
 • Total 3,560 km2 (1,374.5 sq mi)
Population (2005)
 • Total 429,080
 • Density 120.5/km2 (312.2/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 15010-15013, 15015-15018, 15020-15036, 15038-15046, 15048-15053, 15055-15079, 15100
Telephone prefix 010, 019, 0131, 0141, 0142, 0143, 0144
Vehicle registration AL
ISTAT 06

The Province of Alessandria (Italian: Provincia di Alessandria) is an Italian province, with a population of some 430,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The provincial capital is the city of Alessandria.

With an area of 3,560 km² it is the third largest province of Piedmont after those of Cuneo and Turin. To the north it borders on the Province of Vercelli and to the west on the provinces of Turin and Asti. It shares its southern border with Liguria (provinces of Savona and Genoa). Its south-east corner touches the Province of Piacenza in Emilia Romagna, while to the east it borders on the Lombard Province of Pavia.

Contents

History

The province was created by the Royal Decree n. 3702 of 23 October 1859, the Legge Rattazzi, as a union of five of the six provinces which had formed the Division of Alessandria (the provinces of Alessandria, Acqui, Asti, Casale and Tortona) plus the Province of Novi which had formed part of the Division of Genoa. In 1935 the area of Asti was established as the separate Province of Asti.

Communes

There are 190 communes in the province (source: Italian institute of statistics (Istat), see this link). The main communes by population are the following:

Communes Population
Alessandria 92,808
Casale Monferrato 35,303
Novi Ligure 28,354
Tortona 26,661
Valenza 20,457
Acqui Terme 20,193
Ovada 11,661
Serravalle Scrivia 6,108
Arquata Scrivia 5,869
Castelnuovo Scrivia 5,572

Map


Culture

Sacro Monte di Crea

The Sacred Mountain of Crea (Italian: Sacro Monte di Crea) is a Roman Catholic Devotional Complex in the comune of Serralunga di Crea (Montferrat), near Alessandria. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in UNESCO World Heritage list.
Its construction was begun in 1589, around a former Sanctuary of St. Mary whose creation is traditionally attributed St. Eusebius, around 350 AD.

See also

External links