Province of Alessandria

Infobox_ProvinceIT
fullname = Province of Alessandria
name = Alessandria
region =
capital = Alessandria
commune = 190
area = 3,560
population_as_of = (2005)
population = 429,080
populationdensity = 120.5
vehicle = AL
postal_code = 15010-15013, 15015-15018, 15020-15036, 15038-15046, 15048-15053, 15055-15079, 15100
telephone_prefix = 010, 019, 0131, 0141, 0142, 0143, 0144
ISTAT = 06
president = Paolo Filippi (Margherita) elected 2004-06-13


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-west corner touches the Province of Piacenza in Emilia Romagna, while to the east it borders on the Lombard Province of Pavia.

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, Acqui, 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 [http://www.upinet.it/indicatore.asp?id_statistiche=6 this link] ). The main communes by population are the following:

Map

Culture

acro 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.

ee also

*Piemonte (wine)

External links

*
* [http://www.provincia.alessandria.it/ Official website]
* [http://www.sacrimonti.net/User/index.php?PAGE=Sito_it/Catalogo_eng Official web site for European Sacred Mounts]