Volpedo

Volpedo is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 100 km east of Turin and about 30 km east of Alessandria.

Volpedo borders the following municipalities: Casalnoceto, Godiasco, Monleale, Montemarzino, Pozzol Groppo, and Volpeglino.

Painter Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo was born in this village.

History

A burial slab, now enclosed in the parish church's walls, shows the Roman presence in the area in the 1st century BC, although the area was perhaps already inhabited by the Ligures.

In the 10th century it is documented as Vico Picolo ("Small village") and received a Romanesque pieve and a castrum, a fortified village whose walls, rebuilt in the 16th century, are still visible today. In the 12th century it was known as Vicus pecudis, and was connected to the commune of Tortona, sending relief troops to that city during the siege laid by Frederick Barbarossa in 1155.

In 1347 Tortona was annexed by the Visconti of Milan who, in 1412, gave Volpedo as a fief to the condottiero Piero Cameri. The latter ceded the town to the Cathedral of Milan. In 1513 the troops of Volpedo, of Guelph allegiance, was destroyed by the historical Ghibelline rival town of Monleale; the walls were rebuilt in 1589, when Milan was under Spanish domination.

In 1738 Volpedo, together with all the area of Turin, was acquired by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont), and was given as a fief to marquis Filippo Guidobono Cavalchini. In 1849 it became a possession of the Malaspina.

Between 1928 and 1947, the communes of Berzano, Monleale and Volpeglino were merged into that of Volpedo.

Main sights

• Romanesque pieve (pleban church), known since the 10th century and restored in the late 15th century. It houses frescoes from the 15th century from the brothers Manfredino and Franceschino Basilio, also active in the Milan's Duomo.
• 16th century bastions which once enclosed the medieval castrum, and now mark the historical center of Volpedo.
• House-studio of the painter Pellizza da Volpedo

References