Sezzadio is a 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:...

(municipality) in 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 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...

, located about 80 km southeast 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...

 and about 15 km south of 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...

.

Sezzadio borders the following municipalities: Carpeneto

Carpeneto

Carpeneto is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km southeast of Turin and about 25 km south of Alessandria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 923 and an area of 13.6 km².Carpeneto borders the following...

, Cassine

Cassine

Cassine is a town and commune of the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont. It is located 21 km southwest of the town of Alessandria on the left of the lower course of the Bormida in the Alto Monferrato Acquese. The town lies partly in the hills, where the ancient nucleus of...

, Castelnuovo Bormida

Castelnuovo Bormida

Castelnuovo Bormida is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km southeast of Turin and about 20 km south of Alessandria....

, Castelspina

Castelspina

Castelspina is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 70 km southeast of Turin and about 14 km southwest of Alessandria....

, Gamalero

Gamalero

Gamalero is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 70 km southeast of Turin and about 13 km southwest of Alessandria....

, Montaldo Bormida

Montaldo Bormida

Montaldo Bormida is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km southeast of Turin and about 25 km south of Alessandria....

, Predosa

Predosa

Predosa is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km southeast of Turin and about 20 km south of Alessandria....

, and Rivalta Bormida

Rivalta Bormida

Rivalta Bormida is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km southeast of Turin and about 25 km south of Alessandria....

.

The main sight is the Abbey of Santa Giustina, founded in 722 by the 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...

 king Liutprand

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...

. In 1033 it was enlarged by the marquis of Sezzadio, Oberto, and reached its greatest splendour in the 11th-13th centuries, remaining under the Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

s until 1474. The church has a large cotto façade divided by pilasters and crowned by Lombard band

Lombard band

A Lombard band is a decorative blind arcade, usually exterior, often used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of architecture.Lombard bands are believed to have been first used during the First Romanesque Period of the early 11th Century. At that time, they were the most common architectural...

s. The interior has a nave and two aisles ending with apses. In the apses are frescoes from the 14th-15th centuries, while the crypt has a has a 11th century mosaic pavement.

The large parish church was built from 1900 in neo-Gothic style.