Casale Monferrato

Casale Monferrato is a town 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 Monferrato hills. Beyond the river lies the vast plain of the Po valley.

History

The origins of the town are fairly obscure. It is known that the Gaulish 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 eighth 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 Evasio. 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.

In 1536 it passed to the Gonzagas of Mantua, who fortified it strongly. Thereafter it was of considerable importance as a fortress: it successfully resisted the Austrians in 1849, and was strengthened in 1852.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century it became known as "Cement Capital" (capitale del cemento), thanks to the quantity of Portland cement in the hills nearby, and in the twentieth century it acquired printing press and refrigerator industries.

Main sights

The fine Lombard Romanesque cathedral of Sant'Evasio, originally founded in 742, was rebuilt in the early twelfth century and consecrated in 1106 or 1107; it underwent restoration in 1706 and again in the 19th century. It contains some good pictures.

The church of S. Domenico is a good Renaissance edifice. The church of S. Ilario is said to occupy the site of a Roman temple.

The castle of the Paleologi, an imposing 15th century military construction, has a hexagonal plan with four angular towers and an encircling moat. The civic tower, square in plan and made of brick, and 60 metres high, was built in 1510 with an attached bell tower.

The town center includes the Jewish synagogue, built in 1595. It is situated in a traditionally Jewish community and recognized as one of the most beautiful in Europe. Of particular interest are the Tablets of the Law in gilded wood, going back to the eighteenth century, numerous Rimonim (finials to scrolls of the Law) and Atarot (crowns for the scrolls of the Law) carved and with silver filigree.

There are fine palaces in the town center, and the civic museum is located in the ancient convent of S. Chiara, whose cloister is decorated with paintings by il Moncalvo. The Municipal Theatre (1791 but restored towards the end of the 19th century) has five rows of theater boxes, and the upper gallery is decorated with stucco, gilding and velvet.

Music

Casale was an important center for Italian music in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The cathedral there has in its archives polyphonic music by Jean Mouton and Andreas de Silva and 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 premiers of operas by Giulio Cesare Monteverdi, Pietro Guglielmi, and Pasquale Anfossi. Currently the city's musical center is the Teatro Politeama Sociale.

Economy

Casale is situated in a plain where rice cultivation is predominant, and in an area of cement-bearing hills and wineries.

Sport

The town’s football club, A.S. Casale, was founded in 1909. It rapidly achieved notability by becoming in 1913 the first Italian club to beat an English professional team (Reading FC) and by winning the Italian Championship in 1913–14. It dropped out of Serie A in 1934, however, and in the 2005–6 season it is playing in Serie C2/A.

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 + Kermesse). 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 neorealist 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.

Fictional Casale

A siege of the town plays a significant off-stage role in Alessandro Manzoni’s 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).

Notes

References

General
- Some of the content of this article comes from Casale Monferrato (retrieved September 10 2005).
Origins
Music
- Crawford, David: 'Casale Monferrato', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 18, 2005), .
Events
- Ente Manifestazioni - Casale Monferrato - AL - Italy (in Italian)
- Profilo della città di Casale Monferrato (in Italian)
- Riso & Rose in Monferrato, a flourishing festival!
- Ethnosuoni - Folkermesse (in Italian)

External links

Official town website

Towns in Piedmont | cathedrals in Italy | Castles in Italy

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