Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ALESSANDRIA

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 543 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ALESSANDRIA , a See also:

city and episcopal see of See also:Piedmont, See also:Italy, See also:capital of a See also:province which bears its name, situated on the See also:river Tanaro, 57 M. E. by S. of See also:Turin by See also:rail. Pop. (1901) 71,298, of which about See also:half reside in the actual See also:town: the See also:rest are distributed over the suburbs. Alessandria was founded in 1168 by the inhabitants of the See also:district in See also:order to defend themselves against the See also:marquis of Monferrato and the town of See also:Pavia, at whose See also:request it was besieged in 1174 by See also:Frederick See also:Barbarossa for six months, but without success. The Lombard See also:League now included it among the allied cities and named it Alessandria, after See also:Pope See also:Alexander III. The traditional See also:account of its See also:foundation by the Lombard League has been disproved by F. See also:Graf, See also:Die Griindung Alessandrias: ein Britrag zur Geschichte See also:des Lombarden.bundes (1888). After falling into various hands, it was ceded to See also:Savoy by the See also:peace of See also:Utrecht in 1713, and itskcitadel was begun in 1728. During the See also:French occupation (1800-1814), which began after the See also:battle of See also:Marengo, it was still more strongly fortified; the See also:works were entirely destroyed by the Austrians in 1815, but were afterwards reconstructed, and Alessandria is still an important fortress and the headquarters of the second See also:army See also:corps. The citadel is on the See also:left See also:bank of the Tanaro, the town being on the right bank. It is regularly built and contains few buildings of architectural See also:interest, but is a flourishing and important commercial town, not merely owing to its own manufactures (which are See also:miscellaneous) but for the products of the district, and one of the greatest railway centres in Italy.

Lines diverge from it to Turin via See also:

Asti, to Valenza (and thence to See also:Vercelli, Mortara—for See also:Novara or Milan—and Pavia), to See also:Tortona, to Novi, ;.o See also:Acqui and to Bra.

End of Article: ALESSANDRIA

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ALESSANDRI, ALESSANDRO 		[next]
ALESSI

Site © 2006 - Net Industries