Acqui Terme

Infobox CityIT
img_coa = Acqui Terme-Stemma.png official_name = Comune di Acqui Terme
name =Acqui Terme
region = Piedmont
province = Province of Alessandria (AL)
elevation_m = 156
area_total_km2 = 33.42
population_as_of = 2005
population_total = 20230
population_density_km2 = 605
coordinates = coord|44|41|N|08|28|E
frazioni = Lussito, Ovrano, Moirano
telephone = 0144
postalcode = 15011
gentilic = Acquesi
saint = Guido of Acqui
day = June 11
mayor = Danilo Rapetti
(elected May 25, 2005)
website = [http://www.comuneacqui.com/ www.comuneacqui.com]

Acqui Terme ("Äich" in Piedmontese) is a city and "comune" of Piedmont, northern Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is c. 35 km SSW of Alessandria.

The hot sulphur springs have been famous since this was the Roman town of "Aquae Statiellae"; the ancient baths are referred to by Paulus Diaconus and the chronicler Liutprand of Cremona. In 1870 Giovanni Ceruti designed a little pavilion, known as "La Bollente", for the spot at the centre of the town where the waters bubble up at 75°C.

History

In the Roman period the place was connected by road with Alba Pompeia and Augusta Taurinorum (Turin). The local Ligurian tribe of the Statielli had joined the Romans at an early period, but were attacked in 173 BCE and some were transferred to the north of the Po. In the neighbourhood of the town, near the river Bormida, are the remains of the aqueduct which supplied it.

In the 6th century it became part of the Lombard kingdom of northern Italy. Acqui was ruled by its bishop from 978, becoming an independent commune in 1135. In 1278 it was annexed to the Marquisate of Montferrat, to which it belonged until the acquisition by the Duchy of Savoy.

It was connected by a railway line to Genoa in 1892.

Main sights

*The town’s Gothic cathedral, entitled to "Santa Maria Assunta", was built in the late 10th century and consecrated in 1067 by bishop Guido. It is a Romanesque edifice on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and four (originally two) aisles. The façade has a main portal sculpted by Antonio Pilacorte, a late 15th century rose window and a 17th century portico. The Gothic bell tower is from 1479. The interior houses a late 15th-century triptych by the Spanish artist Bartolomé Bermejo a Baroque altar of St. Guido.
*The Palaeologi Castle, mentioned for the first time in 1056. It was rebuilt in the 15th century by Marquis William VII of Montferrat.
*Church of "San Pietro" or "Addolorata", of Palaeo-Christian origins. It was almost entirely rebuilt in the 10th-11th centuries in Romanesque style, when it become a Benedictine abbey. It was again largely renovated in the 18th century, being returned to a neo-Romanesque appearance in the 1930s.
*Church of St. Francis. It includes two 15th century cloister of the former Franciscan convent.

Notable people from Acqui Terme

*Giulietto Chiesa (born 1940), journalist and politician.

References

*1911

External links

* [http://www.comuneacqui.com Official website]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01110a.htm "Catholic Encyclopedia":] Diocese of Acqui
* [http://www.acquese.it Acquese Web Portal of tourism, typical products, health and wellness] in Italian