Odalengo Piccolo is a commune (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:...

) 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....

 in the north-west Italian

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...

 region 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...

. At the start of 2009 it had a population of 264. It is located in the Val Cerrina about 40 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...

, about 13 km north of Asti

Asti

Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...

 and some 20 km south-west of Casale Monferrato

Casale Monferrato

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...

. The municipality extends over an area of 7.63 km² in the hills to the south of the Stura del Monferrato

Stura del Monferrato

The Stura del Monferrato is a 36.7 km stream, which runs through Murisengo, Cerrina Monferrato, Mombello Monferrato and Pontestura in the Italian Province of Alessandria.A right tributary of the Po River it flows in a northeasterly direction within the...

 torrent where areas of woodland are interspersed by vineyards, and borders on the communes of Alfiano Natta

Alfiano Natta

Alfiano Natta is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 40 km east of Turin and about 35 km northwest of Alessandria...

, Castelletto Merli

Castelletto Merli

Castelletto Merli is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 40 km east of Turin and about 35 km northwest of Alessandria...

, Cerrina Monferrato

Cerrina Monferrato

Cerrina Monferrato is a commune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 40 km east of Turin and about 40 km north-west of Alessandria...

, Odalengo Grande

Odalengo Grande

Odalengo Grande is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 35 km east of Turin and about 40 km northwest of Alessandria....

, and Villadeati

Villadeati

Villadeati is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 35 km east of Turin and about 40 km northwest of Alessandria...

.

The two principal centres of population are Serra (dialect: Sèra), the site of the town hall, and Vicinato (dialect: V’žinà) with the parish church; further nuclei are Palmaro (dialect: Cà di Parmàn), Dorato, and Pessine (dialect: Psìn-i) which is notable for its castle.

Odalengo Piccolo is known for the truffle fair Tufo & tartufo, which has been held during the autumn truffle season since 1994, and for the wide variety of antique native apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

 cultivars which are grown locally.

Toponyms

Odalengo enters the historical record in 1298–99 as Odalengum ultra Sturiam. The form Odalengum minus, which distinguishes ‘Little Odalengo’ from the nearby Odalengo Grande

Odalengo Grande

Odalengo Grande is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 35 km east of Turin and about 40 km northwest of Alessandria....

, is recorded in 1306; Odalengum parvum is found in 1320 and Odalengo Prato in 1474.

Vicinato appears as Viscenale in 1279, while Serra is apparently recorded as Serra in 1163 and Pessine as Pisinum in 1171.