Casale Monferrato
Encyclopedia
Casale Monferrato, population 36,058, is a town and comune
in the Piedmont
region of north-west Italy
, part of the province of Alessandria
. It is situated about 60 km east of Turin
on the right bank of the Po
, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrato hills. Beyond the river lies the vast plain of the Po valley.
The origins of the town are fairly obscure. It is known that the Gaul
ish settlement of Vardacate (from var = "water"; ate = "populated place") existed on the Po in this area, and that it became a Roman municipium
. By the beginning of the 8th century there was a small town under Lombard
rule, probably called Sedula or Sedulia. It was here (according to late and unreliable accounts) that one Saint Evasius
, along with 146 followers, was decapitated on the orders of the Arian
Duke Attabulo. Liutprand, King of the Lombards
is said to have supported the construction of a church in honour of Evasius. Certainly the martyr’s cult flourished and by 988 the town had become known as Casale di Sant’Evasio.
At the time of Charlemagne
, the town came under the temporal and religious power of the bishops of Vercelli
, from which it was freed by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor
and King of Italy
. It was sacked by the anti-imperial troops of Vercelli
, Alessandria
and Milan
in 1215, but rebuilt and fortified in 1220. It fell under the power of the Marquess of Montferrat in 1292, and later became the capital of the marquessate.
The condottiere
Facino Cane was born in Casale Monferrato and he participated, financed by the duke of Milano Gian Galeazzo Visconti
, in the Battle of Casalecchio
in 1402, but Theodore II, Marquess of Montferrat
, the son of Isabella of Majorca, did not participate. Gian Galeazzo spent 300,000 golden florins in attempting to turn from their courses the river Mincio
from the city of Mantua
, but Gian Galeazzo died.
In 1536 it passed to the Gonzaga
s of Mantua
, who fortified it strongly. Thereafter it was of considerable importance as a fortress.
In 1745, following the defeat of the Piedmontese army at the Battle of Bassignano
, Casale was occupied by the victorious French and Spanish troops. Much damage was caused to the city’s buildings; the subsequent renovation and rebuilding in the Baroque style made a substantial contribution to the urban texture.
It successfully resisted the Austrians
in 1849, and was strengthened in 1852. Towards the end of the 19th century it became known as "Cement Capital" (capitale del cemento), thanks to the quantity of Portland cement
in the hills nearby, and in the 20th century it acquired printing press
and refrigerator
industries.
. Named for Giuseppe Mazzini
, a key republican figure of the Risorgimento, it is dominated by an 1843 equestrian statue by Abbondio Sangiorgio
of King Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia
, dressed in Roman costume, specifically as a senator, with his knees uncovered. The statue was commissioned by the municipal authorities as a mark of gratitude to the king for having selected Casale as the seat of Piedmont’s second Court of Appeal and to celebrate the construction of Casale’s first permanent bridge across the Po. Locally the square is called Piazza Cavallo (:wiktionary:cavallo being the Italian word for "horse").
Romanesque
cathedral
of Sant'Evasio, originally founded in 742, rebuilt in the early 12th century and consecrated on 7 January 1107 by Pope Paschal II
. It occupies a site where once was a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter
. It underwent restoration in 1706 and again in the 19th century. The cathedral has an asymmetric façade, including a complex narthex
with two galleries (matronaei) connected by a tribune and closed by round arches. The interior houses the relics of Saint Evasius and, near the presbytery
, fragments 11th century pavement mosaics with Biblical scenes (now remounted on the walls of the corridor from the apse to the sacristy).
had chosen Casale as the permanent location of the marquisate court, construction began of the church of San Domenico, to the north of Piazza Mazzini. Work on the building ceased for some time, as a result of political instability; in the early 16th century a fine, if slightly incongruous, Renaissance
portal was imposed on the late Gothic
façade.
, which indeed produces Krumiri
: biscuits which have been a speciality of Casale since their legendary invention in 1870 by one Domenico Rossi after an evening spent with friends in Piazza Mazzini’s Caffè della Concordia (now a bank). Also in Via Lanza is the 17th-century church of San Giuseppe, probably designed by Sebastiano Guala
; a painting attributed to the Ursuline
nun Lucrina Fetti (c.1614–1651, brother of Domenico
) shows Christ venerated by Sant’Evasio and includes a very accurate depiction of contemporary Casale with its civic tower. The church and convent of San Francesco, which housed the remains of many of the Marquises of Monferrato, was turned to other uses during the 18th century and demolished in the nineteenth. The high open tower which is a landmark of Via Lanza belongs to Palazzo Morelli di Popolo; it has been attributed to Bernardo Vittone
, and also to Magnocavalli—both are believed to have had a hand in the refurbishment of the building.
and King Louis XII of France got out of hand. The reconstruction, completed six years later by Matteo Sammicheli, produced a taller structure which included the current bell-chamber. The balconies attached to the upper part of the tower were added during the period of Gonzaga rule. Subsequent restorations were carried out in 1779 (after a lightning strike which destroyed the 15th-century clock) and again in 1920.
Adjoining the tower is the church of Santo Stefano which stands on the east side of a small square named after it. The church’s origins date to the beginning of the second millennium, but it was largely rebuilt in the mid-17th century under a project attributed to Sebastiano Guala
; work on the current façade began in 1787 but was not completed until the late 19th century. Inside are paintings by
Giovanni Francesco Caroto
(1480–1555),
Il Moncalvo (1568–1625),
Giorgio Alberini (1575/6 – 1625/6),
and Francesco Cairo
(1607–1665).
Adorning both the walls and the vault are 15 tondi
depicting prophets, apostles and the Virgin painted by Pietro Francesco Guala in 1757, the last year of his life.
The south side of Piazza Santo Stefano, facing back towards Via Saffi, is formed by the neo-classical
Palazzo Ricci di Cereseto. The imposing façade, marked by four massive brick columns, was built in 1806 to an earlier design by the local architect Francesco Ottavio Magnocavalli
.
Also in the square is a marble statue of the archaeologist and architect Luigi Canina
by Benedetto Cacciatore.
of the Paleologi which occupies most of its western side. The square arose in 1858 through the demolition of the castle’s eastern ravelin
, and was extended in the late nineteenth/early 20th century when the remaining ravilins were removed.
church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, better known by its earlier designation of Santa Caterina. A master-work of Giovanni Battista Scapitta, completed after his death by Giacomo Zanetti
, it is marked by an elliptical cupola
, and a façade curvilinear both in plan and elevation.
by Vincenzo Fabrizi
. Its construction, to a design by Abbot Agostino Vitoli of Spoleto
, had taken six years. However it fell into disuse during the period of Napoleonic rule and remained closed for several decades. After extensive internal embellishment, the theatre reopened in 1840 with a performance of Vincenzo Bellini
’s Beatrice di Tenda
. In 1861 the theatre was sold by the Società dei Nobili to the local authority (the comune
) which made it more accessible to the general public. Nevertheless it fell again into decline; during World War II
it was used as a store. Major restoration work took place in the 1980s and the theatre finally reopened in 1990 with a performance by Vittorio Gassmann. Since then it has offered a mixture of theatre, music and dance, while the foyer is used for exhibitions, usually photographic.
The horseshoe-shaped auditorium with stalls, four tiers of boxes and a gallery (or loggione, i.e. the gods
) is richly decorated with fresco
es, stucco
, gilding
and velvet
. The curtains of the royal box hang from a structure supported on stucco caryatid
s by Abbondio Sangiorgio
who also designed the equestrian statue in Piazza Mazzini.
. It was completely rebuilt in 1566 and was largely restructured towards the end of the 19th century. The church’s polychrome façade is of interest and it contains two important works by Niccolò Musso
: the Madonna del Carmine (‘Our Lady of Mount Carmel
’) and San Francesco ai piedi del Crocefisso (‘Saint Francis
at the foot of the Crucifix
’) originally from the church of San Francesco.
which persisted until the emancipation of the Jews in Piedmont following Charles Albert’s concession of a constitution, the Statuto Albertino
, under the revolutionary pressures of 1848. The Synagogue of Casale Monferrato
is inside a building at Vicolo Olper 44 that offers no hint from its nondescript exterior that it is a synagogue
, built in 1595, and recognized as one of the most beautiful in Europe. The women’s galleries now host an important Jewish museum. Of particular interest are the Tablets of the Law in gilded wood, dating from the 18th century, numerous Rimonim (finials to scrolls of the Law) and Atarot (crowns for the scrolls of the Law) carved and with silver filigree
.
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The public gardens which front the railway station extend westwards, dissected by various streets, almost to the southern end of Via Roma. They contain a range of monuments to figures of local and national renown including Giovanni Lanza
(sculpted by Odoardo Tabacchi, 1887), Giuseppe Antonio Ottavi (Leonardo Bistolfi
, 1890), Filippo Mellana (Giacomo Ginotti, 1887), and Giuseppe Garibaldi
(Primo Giudici, 1884).
The most important, however, is Bistolfi’s war memorial of 1928 (pictured left). A marble exedra
with four caryatid
s in the form of winged victories
is raised on a dias fronted with steps. The bronze sculpture Il Fante Crociato, a foot soldier in crusader-period costume, takes centre stage; a second bronze a lightly robed Primavera Italica (Italic Spring) steps down from the platform and out of the ensemble.
Other public sculptures of note in Casale include the monument to King Charles Albert in Piazza Mazzini mentioned above, Bistolfi’s 1887 monument to Urbano Rattazzi
in Piazza Rattazzi, Benedetto Cacciatori’s Luigi Canina
in Piazza Santo Stefano.The Monumento alla difesa di Casale (Francesco Porzio, 1897; pictured right), situated to the north of the castle, commemorates the vigorous action which took place during the First Italian War of Independence
in 1849 to defend the city against Austrian troops who had just taken part in the defeat of the Piedmontese army. In the Priocco district, to the south of the historic centre, in Viale Ottavio Marchino, there is a monument by Virgilio Audagna to the cement industrialist Ottavio Marchino, son of the founder of Cementi Marchino, which is now part of Buzzi Unicem
.
of Santa Croce, whose cloister is decorated with fresco
s by il Moncalvo.
, Casale was a refuge for troubadours fleeing regions to the west; the music of such troubadours may have been decisive in the formation of secular Italian musical styles in the 14th century (see Music of the Trecento
). In the 16th century the town was incorporated into the holdings of the Gonzaga family, who were patrons of music throughout the Renaissance.
The cathedral there has in its archives polyphonic music by Jean Mouton
, Andreas de Silva
, and Francesco Cellavenia
, as well as important prints by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
and other major composers of the period. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Casale was the site for premieres of opera
s by Giulio Cesare Monteverdi
, Pietro Guglielmi, and Pasquale Anfossi
, and was the birthplace of the Swiss-Italian composer Carlo Evasio Soliva
. Currently the city's musical center is the Teatro Municipale.
cultivation is predominant, and in an area of cement-bearing hills and wineries
.
Casale is also well known for being the district of refrigeration, one of the main of Italy.
The district in Casale has born in Novembre 1945, with the first company called "Franger Frigor s.r.l."
New companies started in 1957 "Mondial Frigori s.r.l." and many more after.
Only to name few Carma S.p.A", "Cofi S.p.A", "Framec S.p.A", all of them connected in some way with "Franger Frigor"
In 1965 Vendo Italy S.p.A. who sales bottle coolers and vending machines.
Late '60 "Cold Car" started a new production in Refrigerated vehicles using Eutectic plates.
Other companies started production in the following years: "Industra Apparecchiature Refrigerate IAR", "PastorFrigor", "GeneralFilter", "Unifrigor", "IARP"
"Dena" is another company working on refrigeration filters and capillary tubes.
Around 13 manufacturing companies work now in this field.
Most of the production in Casale is about Vending machines, Bottle Coolers, Vertical and Horizontal Cabinet, Refrigerated trucks.
In this field many are the technological innovations driven by environmental and energy efficiencies aspects which are used by those companies.
Casale is also known for the training facilities in refrigeration and air conditioning organised by Centro Studi Galileo since 1975.Centro Studi Galileo
In Casale arrive more than 1000 delegates to attend the periodical courses to learn the refrigeration technique in preparation to the certification of personnel.
, Slovakia
, since 1967 Weinstadt
, Germany
, since 2007 Pescara
, Italy
, since 2009 Gjirokastër
, Albania
, since 2010
club, A.S. Casale, was founded in 1909. Within five years it achieved the twin peaks of its success: in 1913 it became the first Italian club to beat an English professional team (Reading F.C.
), and in the 1913–14 season it won the Italian Championship. The team dropped out of Serie A
in 1934, however, and in the 2006–7 season it is playing in Serie D/A.
During the 1970s, an annual under-21 football tournament took place in Casale Monferrato. It was named the "Caligaris" International Tournament, after Umberto Caligaris.
The local basketball
team, A.S. Junior Libertas Pallacanestro Casale Monferrato
, was founded in 1956 and today competes in LegADue
, the second tier of the sport in Italy.
’s novel The Betrothed
, and is the centre of Chapter 2 of the novel The Island of the Day Before
by Umberto Eco
, who was born in neighbouring Alessandria
. Casale also appears in a best-selling historical yarn Bellarion the Fortunate
by the Anglo Italian writer Rafael Sabatini
. A real 13th century personality, Ubertino of Casale
, is a character in Eco's historical novel The Name of the Rose
(1980).
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
region of north-west Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, part of the province of Alessandria
Province of Alessandria
The Province of 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....
. It is situated about 60 km east of Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
on the right bank of the Po
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrato hills. Beyond the river lies the vast plain of the Po valley.
History
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
ish settlement of Vardacate (from var = "water"; ate = "populated place") existed on the Po in this area, and that it became a Roman municipium
Municipium
Municipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
. By the beginning of the 8th century there was a small town under Lombard
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
rule, probably called Sedula or Sedulia. It was here (according to late and unreliable accounts) that one Saint Evasius
Evasius
- Further reading : A short article which favours a fourth-century life and Arian opponents.*The article in Volume 2 of The Catholic Encyclopedia places him in the eighth century. Part of an altarpiece from the church of S. Francesco in Casale Monferrato by an artist himself probably born in that...
, along with 146 followers, was decapitated on the orders of the Arian
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
Duke Attabulo. Liutprand, King of the Lombards
Liutprand, King of the Lombards
Liutprand was the King of the Lombards from 712 to 744 and is chiefly remembered for his Donation of Sutri, in 728, and his long reign, which brought him into a series of conflicts, mostly successful, with most of Italy. He profited by Byzantine weakness to enlarge his domains in Emilia and the...
is said to have supported the construction of a church in honour of Evasius. Certainly the martyr’s cult flourished and by 988 the town had become known as Casale di Sant’Evasio.
At the time of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, the town came under the temporal and religious power of the bishops of Vercelli
Vercelli
Vercelli is a city and comune of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river...
, from which it was freed by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
and King of Italy
King of Italy
King of Italy is a title adopted by many rulers of the Italian peninsula after the fall of the Roman Empire...
. It was sacked by the anti-imperial troops of Vercelli
Vercelli
Vercelli is a city and comune of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river...
, Alessandria
Alessandria
-Monuments:* The Citadel * The church of Santa Maria di Castello * The church of Santa Maria del Carmine * Palazzo Ghilini * Università del Piemonte Orientale-Museums:* The Marengo Battle Museum...
and Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in 1215, but rebuilt and fortified in 1220. It fell under the power of the Marquess of Montferrat in 1292, and later became the capital of the marquessate.
The condottiere
Condottieri
thumb|Depiction of [[Farinata degli Uberti]] by [[Andrea del Castagno]], showing a 15th century condottiero's typical attire.Condottieri were the mercenary soldier leaders of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages...
Facino Cane was born in Casale Monferrato and he participated, financed by the duke of Milano Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Gian Galeazzo Visconti , son of Galeazzo II Visconti and Bianca of Savoy, was the first Duke of Milan and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance...
, in the Battle of Casalecchio
Battle of Casalecchio
The Battle of Casalecchio took place on 26 June 1402 near the town of Casalecchio di Reno, near Bologna. At this battle, a Bolognese army under Giovanni I Bentivoglio opposed Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, and his allies, the Malatesta of Rimini and the Gonzaga of Mantua...
in 1402, but Theodore II, Marquess of Montferrat
Theodore II, Marquess of Montferrat
-Life:He was the thirdborn son of John II of Montferrat and Isabel of Majorca. Theodore was named governor of the margraviate after the death of his brother John III. After the death of John II, Montferrat had been plunged into a crisis brought on by the quick succession of two young rulers,...
, the son of Isabella of Majorca, did not participate. Gian Galeazzo spent 300,000 golden florins in attempting to turn from their courses the river Mincio
Mincio
Mincio is a river in the Lombardy region of northern Italy.Called the Sarca River before entering Lake Garda, it flows from there about 65 km past Mantua into the Po River....
from the city of Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, but Gian Galeazzo died.
In 1536 it passed to the Gonzaga
House of Gonzaga
The Gonzaga family ruled Mantua in Northern Italy from 1328 to 1708.-History:In 1433, Gianfrancesco I assumed the title of Marquis of Mantua, and in 1530 Federico II received the title of Duke of Mantua. In 1531, the family acquired the Duchy of Monferrato through marriage...
s of Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, who fortified it strongly. Thereafter it was of considerable importance as a fortress.
In 1745, following the defeat of the Piedmontese army at the Battle of Bassignano
Battle of Bassignano
The Battle of Bassignana was fought in the Italian campaign of the War of the Austrian Succession on September 27, 1745. It resulted in a victory for the combined armies of France and Spain over Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia....
, Casale was occupied by the victorious French and Spanish troops. Much damage was caused to the city’s buildings; the subsequent renovation and rebuilding in the Baroque style made a substantial contribution to the urban texture.
It successfully resisted the Austrians
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
in 1849, and was strengthened in 1852. Towards the end of the 19th century it became known as "Cement Capital" (capitale del cemento), thanks to the quantity of Portland cement
Portland cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world because it is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco and most non-specialty grout...
in the hills nearby, and in the 20th century it acquired printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
and refrigerator
Refrigerator
A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...
industries.
Piazza Mazzini and its environs
The historic centre of the town is itself centred on Piazza Mazzini, the site of the Roman forumForum (Roman)
A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...
. Named for Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
, a key republican figure of the Risorgimento, it is dominated by an 1843 equestrian statue by Abbondio Sangiorgio
Abbondio Sangiorgio
Abbondio Sangiorgio was an Italian sculptor.Born in Milan, Sangiorgio studied at the city’s Accademia di Brera...
of King Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia
Piedmont-Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia or Sardinia, also Piedmont-Sardinia, Sardinia-Piedmont or Piemonte, refers to the states of the House of Savoy from 1720 or 1723 onwards, following the award of the crown of Sardinia to King Victor Amadeus II of Savoy under the Treaty of The Hague...
, dressed in Roman costume, specifically as a senator, with his knees uncovered. The statue was commissioned by the municipal authorities as a mark of gratitude to the king for having selected Casale as the seat of Piedmont’s second Court of Appeal and to celebrate the construction of Casale’s first permanent bridge across the Po. Locally the square is called Piazza Cavallo (:wiktionary:cavallo being the Italian word for "horse").
Cathedral (Duomo)
A little to the east of the square is the LombardLombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of Sant'Evasio, originally founded in 742, rebuilt in the early 12th century and consecrated on 7 January 1107 by Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II , born Ranierius, was Pope from August 13, 1099, until his death. A monk of the Cluniac order, he was created cardinal priest of the Titulus S...
. It occupies a site where once was a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
. It underwent restoration in 1706 and again in the 19th century. The cathedral has an asymmetric façade, including a complex narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
with two galleries (matronaei) connected by a tribune and closed by round arches. The interior houses the relics of Saint Evasius and, near the presbytery
Presbytery (architecture)
The presbytery is the name for an area in a church building which is reserved for the clergy.In the oldest church it is separated by short walls, by small columns and pilasters in the Renaissance ones; it can also be raised, being reachable by a few steps, usually with railings....
, fragments 11th century pavement mosaics with Biblical scenes (now remounted on the walls of the corridor from the apse to the sacristy).
San Domenico
In 1471, after William VIII, Marquess of MontferratWilliam VIII, Marquess of Montferrat
William VIII Palaiologos was the Marquess of Montferrat from 1464 until his death.He was the third son of Marquess John Jacob, and inherited the Marquisate after the death of his elder brother John IV. He obtained by Emperor Frederick III the territories lost to Savoy from 1435...
had chosen Casale as the permanent location of the marquisate court, construction began of the church of San Domenico, to the north of Piazza Mazzini. Work on the building ceased for some time, as a result of political instability; in the early 16th century a fine, if slightly incongruous, Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
portal was imposed on the late Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
façade.
Via Lanza
Via Lanza, which runs northwards from the north-west corner of Piazza Mazzini, is known for the Krumiri Rossi bakeryBakery
A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...
, which indeed produces Krumiri
Krumiri
Krumiri are a kind of biscuit which is regarded as the particular delicacy of Casale Monferrato, the city in north-west Italy where they were invented in 1878 by the confectioner Domenico Rossi. They are made without water from wheat flour, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla, in the form of a slightly...
: biscuits which have been a speciality of Casale since their legendary invention in 1870 by one Domenico Rossi after an evening spent with friends in Piazza Mazzini’s Caffè della Concordia (now a bank). Also in Via Lanza is the 17th-century church of San Giuseppe, probably designed by Sebastiano Guala
Sebastiano Guala
Sebastiano Guala was an Italian church architect active between 1640–1680 in the area of Casale Monferrato, then capital of the Gonzaga-ruled state of Montferrat. He was born into a prominent family of Frassinello Monferrato and became a canon of the Collegiata di Santa Maria di Piazza in Casale.See...
; a painting attributed to the Ursuline
Ursulines
The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
nun Lucrina Fetti (c.1614–1651, brother of Domenico
Domenico Fetti
Domenico Fetti was an Italian Baroque painter active mainly in Rome, Mantua and Venice.-Biography:...
) shows Christ venerated by Sant’Evasio and includes a very accurate depiction of contemporary Casale with its civic tower. The church and convent of San Francesco, which housed the remains of many of the Marquises of Monferrato, was turned to other uses during the 18th century and demolished in the nineteenth. The high open tower which is a landmark of Via Lanza belongs to Palazzo Morelli di Popolo; it has been attributed to Bernardo Vittone
Bernardo Vittone
Bernardo Antonio Vittone was an Italian architect and writer. He was one of the three most important Baroque architects active in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy; the other two were Filippo Juvarra and Guarino Guarini. The youngest of the three, Vittone was the only one who was born in the...
, and also to Magnocavalli—both are believed to have had a hand in the refurbishment of the building.
Via Saffi
Running west from Piazza Mazzini to Piazza Castello is Via Saffi, which contains one of the town’s most recognizable landmarks: the Torre Civica. This brick tower, square in plan and 60 metres high, dates from the 11th century but suffered severe fire damage in April 1504 when a festival to celebrate the peace between Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian IMaximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
and King Louis XII of France got out of hand. The reconstruction, completed six years later by Matteo Sammicheli, produced a taller structure which included the current bell-chamber. The balconies attached to the upper part of the tower were added during the period of Gonzaga rule. Subsequent restorations were carried out in 1779 (after a lightning strike which destroyed the 15th-century clock) and again in 1920.
Adjoining the tower is the church of Santo Stefano which stands on the east side of a small square named after it. The church’s origins date to the beginning of the second millennium, but it was largely rebuilt in the mid-17th century under a project attributed to Sebastiano Guala
Sebastiano Guala
Sebastiano Guala was an Italian church architect active between 1640–1680 in the area of Casale Monferrato, then capital of the Gonzaga-ruled state of Montferrat. He was born into a prominent family of Frassinello Monferrato and became a canon of the Collegiata di Santa Maria di Piazza in Casale.See...
; work on the current façade began in 1787 but was not completed until the late 19th century. Inside are paintings by
Giovanni Francesco Caroto
Giovanni Francesco Caroto
Giovanni Francesco Caroto was an Italian painter of the Renaissanceactive mainly in his native city of Verona.He initially apprenticed under Liberale da Verona , a conservative painter infused with the style of Mantegna...
(1480–1555),
Il Moncalvo (1568–1625),
Giorgio Alberini (1575/6 – 1625/6),
and Francesco Cairo
Francesco Cairo
Francesco Cairo was an Italian painter active in Baroque Lombardy and Piedmont.He was born and died in Milan. It is not known where he obtained his early training though he is strongly influenced by the circle of il Morazzone, in works such as the Saint Teresa altarpiece in the Certosa di Pavia.In...
(1607–1665).
Adorning both the walls and the vault are 15 tondi
Tondi
Tondi is a subdistrict in the district of Kristiine, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 3,326 .Tondi has a station on the Elektriraudtee western route....
depicting prophets, apostles and the Virgin painted by Pietro Francesco Guala in 1757, the last year of his life.
The south side of Piazza Santo Stefano, facing back towards Via Saffi, is formed by the neo-classical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
Palazzo Ricci di Cereseto. The imposing façade, marked by four massive brick columns, was built in 1806 to an earlier design by the local architect Francesco Ottavio Magnocavalli
Francesco Ottavio Magnocavalli
Francesco Ottavio Magnocavalli, also spelled Magnocavallo was an Italian architect and writer.Born in Casale Monferrato to Ippolito, count of Varengo and the countess Veronica Pico Pastrona, he studied at a Jesuit college in Parma...
.
Also in the square is a marble statue of the archaeologist and architect Luigi Canina
Luigi Canina
Luigi Canina was an Italian archaeologist and architect.Luigi Canina, Italian architect and archeologist, was born in Casale Monferrato in 1795 and died in Florence in 1856. He was a pupil of F. Bonsignore in Turin, and settled in Rome in 1818...
by Benedetto Cacciatore.
Piazza Castello
Piazza Castello is a large irregularly shaped open space used as a car park and as a market square; it is dominated by the castleCastle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
of the Paleologi which occupies most of its western side. The square arose in 1858 through the demolition of the castle’s eastern ravelin
Ravelin
A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress...
, and was extended in the late nineteenth/early 20th century when the remaining ravilins were removed.
The castle
The castle itself is an imposing 15th century military construction, with a hexagonal plan, four round towers and an encircling moat.Santa Caterina
At the south-east corner of the piazza is the elegant BaroqueBaroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, better known by its earlier designation of Santa Caterina. A master-work of Giovanni Battista Scapitta, completed after his death by Giacomo Zanetti
Giacomo Zanetti
Giacomo Zanetti , born probably in Lugano, was an Italian master builder and architect active in Casale Monferrato.He was responsible for some of the most interesting baroque buildings constructed in the town during the years following the House of Savoy’s 1708 acquisition of the Duchy of...
, it is marked by an elliptical cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
, and a façade curvilinear both in plan and elevation.
Teatro Municipale
The theatre, which stands at the north-eastern corner of the piazza at the end of Via Saffi, opened in 1791 with a performance of the La moglie capricciosa, an opera buffaOpera buffa
Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...
by Vincenzo Fabrizi
Vincenzo Fabrizi
Vincenzo Fabrizi was an Italian composer of opera buffa.Little is known of Fabrizi’s life, perhaps because of his many journeys to various parts of Italy and Europe. He was born in Naples in 1764 and studied under the guidance of Giacomo Tritto. The Neapolitan Carnival of 1783 saw his first...
. Its construction, to a design by Abbot Agostino Vitoli of Spoleto
Spoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
, had taken six years. However it fell into disuse during the period of Napoleonic rule and remained closed for several decades. After extensive internal embellishment, the theatre reopened in 1840 with a performance of Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
’s Beatrice di Tenda
Beatrice di Tenda
Beatrice di Tenda is a tragic opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, after the play of the same name by Carlo Tedaldi-Fores...
. In 1861 the theatre was sold by the Società dei Nobili to the local authority (the comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
) which made it more accessible to the general public. Nevertheless it fell again into decline; during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it was used as a store. Major restoration work took place in the 1980s and the theatre finally reopened in 1990 with a performance by Vittorio Gassmann. Since then it has offered a mixture of theatre, music and dance, while the foyer is used for exhibitions, usually photographic.
The horseshoe-shaped auditorium with stalls, four tiers of boxes and a gallery (or loggione, i.e. the gods
The gods
The gods , or sometimes paradise, is a theatrical term, referring to the highest areas of a theatre such as the upper balconies. These are generally the cheapest seats...
) is richly decorated with fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es, stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
, gilding
Gilding
The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...
and velvet
Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...
. The curtains of the royal box hang from a structure supported on stucco caryatid
Caryatid
A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese...
s by Abbondio Sangiorgio
Abbondio Sangiorgio
Abbondio Sangiorgio was an Italian sculptor.Born in Milan, Sangiorgio studied at the city’s Accademia di Brera...
who also designed the equestrian statue in Piazza Mazzini.
Via Garibaldi and Sant’Ilario
From the side of the theatre Via Garibaldi leads northwards to the 16th-century church of Sant'Ilario, founded in 380 in honour of Hilary of PoitiersHilary of Poitiers
Hilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Latin word for happy or cheerful. His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13...
. It was completely rebuilt in 1566 and was largely restructured towards the end of the 19th century. The church’s polychrome façade is of interest and it contains two important works by Niccolò Musso
Niccolò Musso
Niccolò Musso was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.He was mostly active in his natal city of Casale Monferrato. He is said to have trained or worked under either Caravaggio for ten years in Rome or by local tradition under the Carracci in Bologna . He painted for the church of St...
: the Madonna del Carmine (‘Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid 13th centuries...
’) and San Francesco ai piedi del Crocefisso (‘Saint Francis
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
at the foot of the Crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
’) originally from the church of San Francesco.
Via Roma, ghetto and synagogue
Behind the shops on the west side of Via Roma, which runs southwards from Piazza Mazzini, lay the ghettoGhetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
which persisted until the emancipation of the Jews in Piedmont following Charles Albert’s concession of a constitution, the Statuto Albertino
Statuto Albertino
The Statuto Albertino or Albertine Statute was the constitution that King Charles Albert conceded to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in Italy on 4 March 1848...
, under the revolutionary pressures of 1848. The Synagogue of Casale Monferrato
Synagogue of Casale Monferrato
The Synagogue of Casale Monferrato, which was built in 1595, is particularly known for its exquisite Baroque interior with walls and ceiling embellished with elaborate painting, carving and gilding. It is located in Vicolo Salmone Olper, an alleyway in the traditionally Jewish quarter of Casale...
is inside a building at Vicolo Olper 44 that offers no hint from its nondescript exterior that it is a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, built in 1595, and recognized as one of the most beautiful in Europe. The women’s galleries now host an important Jewish museum. Of particular interest are the Tablets of the Law in gilded wood, dating from the 18th century, numerous Rimonim (finials to scrolls of the Law) and Atarot (crowns for the scrolls of the Law) carved and with silver filigree
Filigree
Filigree is a delicate kind of jewellery metalwork made with twisted threads usually of gold and silver or stitching of the same curving motifs. It often suggests lace, and in recent centuries remains popular in Indian and other Asian metalwork, and French from 1660 to the late 19th century...
.
The Giardini pubblici and public sculpture
Giovanni Lanza
Domenico Giovanni Giuseppe Maria Lanza was an Italian politician and the tenth Prime Minister from 1869 to 1873.Lanza was born in the Piedmontese city of Casale Monferrato...
(sculpted by Odoardo Tabacchi, 1887), Giuseppe Antonio Ottavi (Leonardo Bistolfi
Leonardo Bistolfi
Leonardo Bistolfi was an Italian sculptor, an important exponent of Italian Symbolism.Bistolfi was born in Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, north-west Italy, to Giovanni Bistolfi, a sculptor in wood, and to Angela Amisano....
, 1890), Filippo Mellana (Giacomo Ginotti, 1887), and Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
(Primo Giudici, 1884).
The most important, however, is Bistolfi’s war memorial of 1928 (pictured left). A marble exedra
Exedra
In architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's facade. The original Greek sense was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical...
with four caryatid
Caryatid
A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese...
s in the form of winged victories
Winged Victory of Samothrace
The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike . Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.-Description:The Nike of Samothrace,...
is raised on a dias fronted with steps. The bronze sculpture Il Fante Crociato, a foot soldier in crusader-period costume, takes centre stage; a second bronze a lightly robed Primavera Italica (Italic Spring) steps down from the platform and out of the ensemble.
Other public sculptures of note in Casale include the monument to King Charles Albert in Piazza Mazzini mentioned above, Bistolfi’s 1887 monument to Urbano Rattazzi
Urbano Rattazzi
Urbano Pio Francesco Rattazzi was an Italian statesman.-Biography:He was born in Alessandria . He studied law at Turin, and in 1838 began his practice, which met with marked success at the capital and Casale. In 1848, Rattazzi was sent to the Sardinian chamber of deputies in Turin as...
in Piazza Rattazzi, Benedetto Cacciatori’s Luigi Canina
Luigi Canina
Luigi Canina was an Italian archaeologist and architect.Luigi Canina, Italian architect and archeologist, was born in Casale Monferrato in 1795 and died in Florence in 1856. He was a pupil of F. Bonsignore in Turin, and settled in Rome in 1818...
in Piazza Santo Stefano.The Monumento alla difesa di Casale (Francesco Porzio, 1897; pictured right), situated to the north of the castle, commemorates the vigorous action which took place during the First Italian War of Independence
First Italian War of Independence
The First Italian War of Independence was fought in 1848 between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire. The war saw main battles at Custoza and Novara in which the Austrians under Radetzky managed to defeat the Piedmontese....
in 1849 to defend the city against Austrian troops who had just taken part in the defeat of the Piedmontese army. In the Priocco district, to the south of the historic centre, in Viale Ottavio Marchino, there is a monument by Virgilio Audagna to the cement industrialist Ottavio Marchino, son of the founder of Cementi Marchino, which is now part of Buzzi Unicem
Buzzi Unicem
Buzzi Unicem S.p.A. is an Italian company, quoted on the Borsa Italiana, which produces cement, ready-mix concrete and construction aggregates. Its headquarters are in the town of Casale Monferrato which was once known as the Italian ‘cement capital’...
.
Palazzi
The historic centre is marked by many palazzi which are often Baroque in appearance (though the substance is often earlier), reflecting the urban renewal which took place in the early decades of the 18th century. Among the best known are:- the 15th-century palazzo of the marchesa Anna d'Alençon in Via Alessandria.
- The 15th-century Palazzo Treviso, in Via Trevigi, was restructured on behalf of the Anna d’Alençon before being given to the Dominican convent. During the Napoleonic period it was used as a lyceum and has subsequently remained in scholastic use.
- Palazzo Del Carretto, also known as the Casa Tornielli, in Via Canina, again dating from the 15th century, now housing a language school.
- The medieval Casa Biandrate, at the junction of Via Guazzo and Via Morini, has preserved its late gothic character.
- Palazzo Sannazzaro, a gothic building in Via Mameli, remodelled in the baroque style by Giacomo ZanettiGiacomo ZanettiGiacomo Zanetti , born probably in Lugano, was an Italian master builder and architect active in Casale Monferrato.He was responsible for some of the most interesting baroque buildings constructed in the town during the years following the House of Savoy’s 1708 acquisition of the Duchy of...
(1698–1735). - Palazzo Gozani di Treville, regarded as the most beautiful in the town and as one of the two most important works of Giovanni Battista Scapitta, the other being the church of Santa Catarina, mentioned above. The rococò atriumAtrium (architecture)In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
and courtyard are particularly praised, as is the long and gently curved façade which follows the path of Via Mameli. - Palazzo Gozani di San GiorgioSan Giorgio MonferratoSan Giorgio Monferrato is a comune of the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont. It is about 60 km east of the regional capital Turin and about 25 km northwest of Alessandria....
, now the town hall, was partially rebuilt in the years 1775–8 to a design by Filippo Nicolis de Robilant. The façade is of three orders with its windows surrounded by decorations in stuccoStuccoStucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
. Via Mameli. - Palazzo Magnocavalli has a façade commissioned from Giacomo Zanetti by the architect Francesco Ottavio MagnocavalliFrancesco Ottavio MagnocavalliFrancesco Ottavio Magnocavalli, also spelled Magnocavallo was an Italian architect and writer.Born in Casale Monferrato to Ippolito, count of Varengo and the countess Veronica Pico Pastrona, he studied at a Jesuit college in Parma...
. Inside, the monumental twisted staircase, supported by two columns, fits gracefully into a very restricted space. Via Mameli. - Palazzo Fornara, built in 1840 in the neo-classicalNeoclassical architectureNeoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
style by the Vercellese Pietro Bosso, forms the east side of Piazza Mazzini. The site was previously occupied by the church of Santa Maria di Piazza which was deconsecrated during the Napoleonic period. Since 1925 it has been a bank. - Palazzo Langosco, in Via Corte d’Appello, encloses part of the main cloister of the former Augustinian convent complex of Santa Croce. Once the seat of the Senate of Montferrat, it now houses the public library.
- The neo-classical Palazzo Sacchi-Nemours, beside the Teatro Civico in Via Saffi, was built in 1750–2 by the local architect Francesco Ottavio Magnocavalli.
- Palazzo Ricci di Cereseto, in Piazzetta di S. Stefano, has an imposing neo-classical façade fronted by four massive brickwork columns, constructed in 1806 by G. Battista Formiglia, probably following a design by Magnocavalli.
- Palazzo Gaspardone-Ottavi, in Via Cavour, came into the possession of the Ottavi family during the 19th century and is noted for Bistolfi’s plaque commemorating Ottavio OttaviOttavio OttaviOttavio Ottavi was an Italian oenologist born in Sandigliano. His father Giuseppe Antonio Ottavio was a noted agronomist, and his brother Edoardo, editor of the journal Il Coltivatore, was also seen as a significant figure in the development of nineteenth-century Italian viticulture.He was the...
(an oenologistOenologyOenology,[p] œnology , or enology is the science and study of all aspects of wine and winemaking except vine-growing and grape-harvesting, which is a subfield called viticulture. “Viticulture & oenology” is a common designation for training programmes and research centres that include both the...
known also, in his home town, for writing the Inno ai krumiri, or ‘hymn to the krumiri biscuits’) and a memorial tablet to Saint Luigi Gonzaga.
Museums and galleries
The civic museum is located in the ancient conventConvent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
of Santa Croce, whose cloister is decorated with fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
s by il Moncalvo.
Music
Casale was an important center for Italian music from the 13th through the 17th centuries. During the Albigensian CrusadeAlbigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
, Casale was a refuge for troubadours fleeing regions to the west; the music of such troubadours may have been decisive in the formation of secular Italian musical styles in the 14th century (see Music of the Trecento
Music of the trecento
The Trecento was a period of vigorous activity in Italy in the arts, including painting, architecture, literature, and music. The music of the Trecento paralleled the achievements in the other arts in many ways, for example, in pioneering new forms of expression, especially in secular song in the...
). In the 16th century the town was incorporated into the holdings of the Gonzaga family, who were patrons of music throughout the Renaissance.
The cathedral there has in its archives polyphonic music by Jean Mouton
Jean Mouton
Jean Mouton was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was famous both for his motets, which are among the most refined of the time, and for being the teacher of Adrian Willaert, one of the founders of the Venetian School....
, Andreas de Silva
Andreas de Silva
Andreas de Silva was a composer, possibly Portuguese, or likely Spanish, who is known mainly from inclusion of five motets in the Medici Codex.Now attributed to de Silva is a madrigal Che sentisti Madonna misattributed to Verdelot in 1537....
, and Francesco Cellavenia
Francesco Cellavenia
Francesco Cellavenia was an Italian composer of the Renaissance, active in Casale Monferrato.Little is known about his life, and the few details once thought secure are contested. He may have been from Cilavegna, a town near Pavia, judging by his name, and he likely spent a large portion of his...
, as well as important prints by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
and other major composers of the period. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Casale was the site for premieres of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s by Giulio Cesare Monteverdi
Giulio Cesare Monteverdi
Giulio Cesare Monteverdi was an Italian composer and organist; he was the younger brother of Claudio Monteverdi.Giulio Cesare Monteverdi was born in Cremona where he was baptised on 31 January 1573. In 1600 he held the position of organist of Mantua Cathedral for a brief time. In August 1602 he...
, Pietro Guglielmi, and Pasquale Anfossi
Pasquale Anfossi
Bonifacio Domenico Pasquale Anfossi was an Italian opera composer. Born in Taggia, Liguria, he studied with Niccolò Piccinni and Antonio Sacchini, and worked mainly in London, Venice and Rome....
, and was the birthplace of the Swiss-Italian composer Carlo Evasio Soliva
Carlo Evasio Soliva
Carlo Evasio Soliva was a Swiss-Italian composer of opera, chamber music, and sacred choral works. Soliva was born in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont to a family of Swiss chocolatiers who had emigrated from the canton of Ticino...
. Currently the city's musical center is the Teatro Municipale.
Economy
Casale is situated in a plain where riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
cultivation is predominant, and in an area of cement-bearing hills and wineries
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
.
Casale is also well known for being the district of refrigeration, one of the main of Italy.
The district in Casale has born in Novembre 1945, with the first company called "Franger Frigor s.r.l."
New companies started in 1957 "Mondial Frigori s.r.l." and many more after.
Only to name few Carma S.p.A", "Cofi S.p.A", "Framec S.p.A", all of them connected in some way with "Franger Frigor"
In 1965 Vendo Italy S.p.A. who sales bottle coolers and vending machines.
Late '60 "Cold Car" started a new production in Refrigerated vehicles using Eutectic plates.
Other companies started production in the following years: "Industra Apparecchiature Refrigerate IAR", "PastorFrigor", "GeneralFilter", "Unifrigor", "IARP"
"Dena" is another company working on refrigeration filters and capillary tubes.
Around 13 manufacturing companies work now in this field.
Most of the production in Casale is about Vending machines, Bottle Coolers, Vertical and Horizontal Cabinet, Refrigerated trucks.
In this field many are the technological innovations driven by environmental and energy efficiencies aspects which are used by those companies.
Casale is also known for the training facilities in refrigeration and air conditioning organised by Centro Studi Galileo since 1975.Centro Studi Galileo
In Casale arrive more than 1000 delegates to attend the periodical courses to learn the refrigeration technique in preparation to the certification of personnel.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Casale Monferrato is twinned with: TrnavaTrnava
Trnava is a city in western Slovakia, 47 km to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a kraj and of an okres . It was the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric . The city has a historic center...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, since 1967 Weinstadt
Weinstadt
Weinstadt is a town in the county Rems-Murr, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Rems Valley approximately 15 km east of Stuttgart. As the name implies, it is best known for its vineyards and production of wine...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 2007 Pescara
Pescara
Pescara is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of January 1, 2007 it was the most populated city within Abruzzo at 123,059 residents, 400,000 with the surrounding metropolitan area...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, since 2009 Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër is a city in southern Albania with a population of 43,000. Lying in the historical region of Epirus, it is the capital of both the Gjirokastër District and the larger Gjirokastër County...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, since 2010
Sport
The town’s footballFootball (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club, A.S. Casale, was founded in 1909. Within five years it achieved the twin peaks of its success: in 1913 it became the first Italian club to beat an English professional team (Reading F.C.
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
), and in the 1913–14 season it won the Italian Championship. The team dropped out of Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
in 1934, however, and in the 2006–7 season it is playing in Serie D/A.
During the 1970s, an annual under-21 football tournament took place in Casale Monferrato. It was named the "Caligaris" International Tournament, after Umberto Caligaris.
The local basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team, A.S. Junior Libertas Pallacanestro Casale Monferrato
A.S. Junior Pallacanestro Casale
Associazione Sportiva Junior Pallacanestro Casale Monferrato, also known for sponsorship reasons as Fastweb Casale Monferrato is an Italian professional basketball team from the town of Casale Monferrato....
, was founded in 1956 and today competes in LegADue
LegADue
Legadue or Lega2 is the second-highest division of professional club basketball in Italy since 2001-2002 season...
, the second tier of the sport in Italy.
Events
- Annual
- Saint Joseph’s Fair (Mostra mercato di San Giuseppe). A fair of industry, commerce, handicraft, and agriculture held since 1946. Mid-March; Cittadella.
- Rice and Roses (Riso&Rose). A festival of concerts, pageants, markets and other events held in and around Casale since 2001. May.
- Folkermesse (from Folk + KermesseKermesseKermesse or kermis, is a Dutch language term derived from 'kerk' and 'mis' that became borrowed in English and French, originally denoting the mass said on the anniversary of the foundation of a church and in honour of the patron...
). The world folk music and dance festival, first staged in Casale in 1983, includes the town on its summer itinerary. July–September. - Magiche Figure. Exhibition of puppet theatre from Italy and abroad. September.
- Festival of Wine and the Monferrato. A celebration of local wine and food together with related events. Mid-September.
- Monthly
- Antiques market. Founded in 1973, this popular market is held on the second weekend of the month (except August) in the Mercato Pavia.
- The Artemista craft market and Il Paniere market of organic produce market are held on the third Saturday of each month in Piazza Mazzini.
- Casale Open City (Casale Città Aperta, a play on the title of the classic neorealistItalian neorealismItalian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
film Roma, città aperta). Many of the town’s monuments are open, with free guided tours on the Sunday afternoon. Second weekend of the month.
- Twice weekly
- Market days. Tuesday and Friday; Piazza Castello.
People
Notable people born in Casale, or with close connections to the town, include:- EvasiusEvasius- Further reading : A short article which favours a fourth-century life and Arian opponents.*The article in Volume 2 of The Catholic Encyclopedia places him in the eighth century. Part of an altarpiece from the church of S. Francesco in Casale Monferrato by an artist himself probably born in that...
(died 3rd, 4th, or 8th century, perhaps), martyr and patron saint of the town. - Ubertino da Casale (1259–1329), Franciscan preacher and theologian.
- Yolande of Montferrat (1274–1317), became Eirene, Empress-Consort of Andronikos II PalaiologosAndronikos II PalaiologosAndronikos II Palaiologos , Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, was Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. He was the eldest surviving son of Michael VIII Palaiologos and Theodora Doukaina Vatatzina, grandniece of John III Doukas Vatatzes...
, Byzantine emperor. - Facino CaneFacino Canethumb|Facino Cane.Facino Cane da Casale , born Bonifacio Cane, was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:Cane was born in Casale Monferrato to a noble family....
(1360–1412), condottiere. - William VIII (1420–1483), the Marquess of Montferrat who established Casale as its definitive capital.
- Boniface III ((1424–1494)), Marquess of Montferrat.
- Giovanni Martino SpanzottiGiovanni Martino SpanzottiGiovanni Martino Spanzotti was an Italian painter active in Lombardy....
(born circa 1455), painter, - William IX (1486–1518), Marquess of Montferrat.
- Anna d'Alençon (1492–1562), Marchioness of Montferrat.
- Bianca Maria Gaspardone (died 1526), the rich heiress who became wife to Ermes Visconti and to the Count of Cellant, (and mistress to many more) before her public execution in Milan.
- John George (1488–1533), Marquess of Montferrat.
- Boniface IV (1512–1530), Marquess of Montferrat.
- Stefano Guazzo (1530–1593), founder of the Casale literary academy the Illustrati.
- Niccolò MussoNiccolò MussoNiccolò Musso was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.He was mostly active in his natal city of Casale Monferrato. He is said to have trained or worked under either Caravaggio for ten years in Rome or by local tradition under the Carracci in Bologna . He painted for the church of St...
(c.1590 – c.1623), painter of the Baroque period. - Camilla Faà di Bruno (c.1599-1662), the ‘Bella Ardizzina’ who secretly married Francesco GonzagaFrancesco GonzagaFrancesco Gonzaga was an Italian nobleman, who was Duke of Ariano.-Biography:He was brother of the Cardinal Gianvincenzo Gonzaga, nephew of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga and of Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua....
Duke of Ferrara and of Montferrat. - Ferdinando del CairoFerdinando del CairoFerdinando del Cairo was an Italian painter of the Baroque.He was born at Casale Monferrato, and learned the first rudiments of design from his father, an unknown artist. He afterwards became a pupil of Marcantonio Franceschini at Bologna...
(1666–1748), a painter of the Italian Baroque school, was born in Casale. - Giacomo ZanettiGiacomo ZanettiGiacomo Zanetti , born probably in Lugano, was an Italian master builder and architect active in Casale Monferrato.He was responsible for some of the most interesting baroque buildings constructed in the town during the years following the House of Savoy’s 1708 acquisition of the Duchy of...
(1698–1735), master-builder and architect who completed the baroque reconstruction of Santa Caterina, and built several palazzi in the town. - Pietro Francesco Guala (1698–1757), painter of the Piedmontese Baroque school.
- Francesco Ottavio MagnocavalliFrancesco Ottavio MagnocavalliFrancesco Ottavio Magnocavalli, also spelled Magnocavallo was an Italian architect and writer.Born in Casale Monferrato to Ippolito, count of Varengo and the countess Veronica Pico Pastrona, he studied at a Jesuit college in Parma...
(1707–89), architect. - Carlo CozioCarlo CozioCarlo Cozio, Count of Montiglio and Salabue was an Italian chess player and theorist. He is best remembered for the book Il giuoco degli scacchi, and for the Cozio Defence.-Life:Carlo Cozio was born in Casale Monferrato around 1715...
, Count of Montiglio and Salabue (1715–1780), chess player. - Carlo Vidua, Count of Conzano (1785–1830), traveller and archeologist.
- Carlo Evasio SolivaCarlo Evasio SolivaCarlo Evasio Soliva was a Swiss-Italian composer of opera, chamber music, and sacred choral works. Soliva was born in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont to a family of Swiss chocolatiers who had emigrated from the canton of Ticino...
(1791–1853), musician. - Luigi CaninaLuigi CaninaLuigi Canina was an Italian archaeologist and architect.Luigi Canina, Italian architect and archeologist, was born in Casale Monferrato in 1795 and died in Florence in 1856. He was a pupil of F. Bonsignore in Turin, and settled in Rome in 1818...
(1795–1856), archaeologist and architect. - Joseph RocchiettiJoseph RocchiettiJoseph Rocchietti was an Italian-American novelist.A native of Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, he emigrated to the United States in 1831. He was active as a writer there during the years 1835–1875 and is best known for Lorenzo and Oonalaska , which is the earliest known novel by an Italian-American...
, the earliest known Italian-American novelist, was an emigrant from Casale. - Giovanni LanzaGiovanni LanzaDomenico Giovanni Giuseppe Maria Lanza was an Italian politician and the tenth Prime Minister from 1869 to 1873.Lanza was born in the Piedmontese city of Casale Monferrato...
(1810–1882), politician. - Ascanio Sobrero (1812–1888), chemist.
- Eleuterio PaglianoEleuterio PaglianoEleuterio Pagliano was an Italian painter of the Romantic period as well as an activist and fighter of the Risorgimento.-Biography:...
(1826–1903), painter. - Luigi HuguesLuigi HuguesLuigi Hugues was an Italian academic geographer and accomplished amateur musician. He is best known today as a composer and arranger of virtuoso works for the flute, and for his contributions to the teaching and history of geography.Hughes was born in Casale Monferrato, today in the Province of...
(1836–1913), engineer, geographer and musician. - Francesco NegriFrancesco NegriFrancesco Negri was an Italian photographer known not only as a pictorialist but for his innovative work in photomicroscopy and in the development of the telephoto lens, and for his early experiments in Louis Ducos du Hauron’s techniques of colour photography...
(1841–1924), photographer. - Giovanni Celoria (1842–1920), astronomer.
- Giulio Viotte (1845–78), artist.
- Giovanni Camerana (1845–1905), magistrate, poet, art critic: one of the prime members of the scapigliaturaScapigliaturaScapigliatura is the name of the artistic movement which developed in Italy after the period known as Risorgimento,...
movement. - Leonardo BistolfiLeonardo BistolfiLeonardo Bistolfi was an Italian sculptor, an important exponent of Italian Symbolism.Bistolfi was born in Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, north-west Italy, to Giovanni Bistolfi, a sculptor in wood, and to Angela Amisano....
(1859–1933), sculptor. - Leandro BisiachLeandro Bisiach-Biography:Leandro Bisiach was a violin maker born in Casale Monferrato Italy and died in 1945 at Venegono Superiore.Trained as a violinist, he made his first violin on his own and received praise for it. Thus he decided to become a violin maker and moved to Milan to work with the Antoniazzi...
(1864–1946), a violin maker. - Ugo CavalleroUgo CavalleroUgo Cavallero was an Italian military commander before and during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
(1880–1943), military commander. - Cesare Maria De VecchiCesare Maria De VecchiCesare Maria De Vecchi, 1st Conte di Val Cismon was an Italian soldier, colonial administrator and Fascist politician.-Biography:...
(1884–1959), politician. - Umberto CaligarisUmberto CaligarisUmberto Caligaris was an Italian international footballer who played, normally at left back, for A.S. Casale and Juventus. His 59 caps for the Italian national team stood as a record for many years....
(1901–1940), footballer. - Egidio OrtonaEgidio OrtonaEgidio Ortona was an Italian diplomat whose career spanned the years 1931 to 1975. He was Italian Ambassador to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States .-Life:...
(1911–1996), diplomat. - Augusto Segre (1915–1986), writer and antifascist.
- Giampaolo Pansa (born 1935), journalist and writer.
- Sergio CastellettiSergio CastellettiSergio Castelletti was an Italian professional footballer and manager.-Footballer:As a football, he played several seasons with Fiorentina, winning twice Coppa Italia , a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and a Mitropa Cup.With team-mate Enzo Robotti, which came from province of Alessandria like Castelletti...
(born 1937), footballer. - Giovanni PianaGiovanni PianaPiana Giovanni is an Italian philosopher. He taught theoretical philosophy at the University of Milan from 1970 to 1999. Later, he went to live at Pietrabianca di Sangineto , from which he continues to write and publish....
(born 5 April 1940), philosopher. - Roberto BolleRoberto BolleRoberto Bolle is an Italian ballet dancer. He is currently a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and also holds guest artist status with The Royal Ballet and La Scala Theatre Ballet, making regular appearances with both companies.- Overview :...
(born 1975), ballet dancer, was born in Casale, although he grew up in Trino Vercellese.
Fictional Casale
A siege of the town plays a significant off-stage role in Alessandro Manzoni’sAlessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed , generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature...
’s novel The Betrothed
The Betrothed
The Betrothed is an Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, first published in 1827, in three volumes. It has been called the most famous and widely read novel of the Italian language....
, and is the centre of Chapter 2 of the novel The Island of the Day Before
The Island of the Day Before
The Island of the Day Before is a 1994 novel by Umberto Eco.It is the story of a 17th century Italian nobleman who is the only survivor of a shipwreck during a fierce storm. He finds himself washed up on an abandoned ship in a harbour through which, he convinces himself, runs the International...
by Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
, who was born in neighbouring Alessandria
Alessandria
-Monuments:* The Citadel * The church of Santa Maria di Castello * The church of Santa Maria del Carmine * Palazzo Ghilini * Università del Piemonte Orientale-Museums:* The Marengo Battle Museum...
. Casale also appears in a best-selling historical yarn Bellarion the Fortunate
Bellarion the Fortunate
Bellarion the Fortunate, published in 1926, is an historical novel by Rafael Sabatini. Set at the beginning of the 15th century in northern Italy, it takes place first in the Marquessate of Montferrat and later in the Duchy of Milan...
by the Anglo Italian writer Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini was an Italian/British writer of novels of romance and adventure.-Life:Rafael Sabatini was born in Iesi, Italy, to an English mother and Italian father...
. A real 13th century personality, Ubertino of Casale
Ubertino of Casale
Ubertino of Casale was an Italian Franciscan and one of the leaders of the stricter branch of the Franciscan Christian order. For some time he was a chaplain of the cardinal Orsini....
, is a character in Eco's historical novel The Name of the Rose
The Name of the Rose
The Name of the Rose is the first novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
(1980).
External links
- Official town website
- The article on Casale Monferrato in the 1913 Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
includes a brief history of the Diocese of Casale Monferrato. - Duomo di Casale Monferrato , official site of the city’s cathedral.
- Il Monferrato on line , site of the local newspaper.
- MonferratoArte A historical and bibliographical directory of artists active in the extra-urban Churches of the Diocese of Casale Monferrato.