Acqui Terme
Encyclopedia
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 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...
, northern 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...
, 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....
. It is c. 35 km SSW 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...
. It is one of the principle winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
communes of the Italian DOCG wine
Italian wine
Italian wine is wine produced in Italy, a country which is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world's largest wine producer, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005. Italian wine is exported largely around the world and has...
Brachetto d'Acqui
Brachetto d'Acqui
Brachetto d'Acqui is a red Italian wine that is classified as a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita since 1996 and previously a Denominazione di Origine Controllata region since 1969. It is produced in the Piedmont wine region around Acqui Terme in the province of Alessandria with...
.
The hot sulphur springs have been famous since this was the Roman town of Aquae Statiellae; the ancient baths are referred to by Paulus Diaconus and the chronicler Liutprand of Cremona
Liutprand of Cremona
Liutprand, also Liudprand, Liuprand, Lioutio, Liucius, Liuzo, and Lioutsios was a Lombard historian and author, and Bishop of Cremona....
. In 1870 Giovanni Ceruti designed a little pavilion, known as La Bollente, for the spot at the centre of the town where the waters bubble up at 75°C.
History
In the Roman period the place was connected by road with Alba Pompeia and Augusta Taurinorum (TurinTurin
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...
). The local Ligurian
Ligures
The Ligures were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria, a region of north-western Italy.-Classical sources:...
tribe of the Statielli
Statielli
The Statielli, Statiellātes, or Statiellenses were a small Ligurian tribe which inhabited an area south of the river Padus . Their chief town was Aquae Statiellae , on the road from Vada Sabatia, near Savona to Dertona and Placentia....
had joined the Romans at an early period, but were attacked in 173 BCE and some were transferred to the north 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...
. In the neighbourhood of the town, near the river Bormida
Bormida
Bormida , with a population 453 spread over an area of 22.4 km², is a rural commune of the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria...
, are the remains of the aqueduct which supplied it.
In the 6th century it became part of 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...
kingdom of northern Italy. Acqui was ruled by its bishop from 978, becoming an independent commune in 1135. In 1278 it was annexed to the Marquisate of Montferrat, to which it belonged until the acquisition by the Duchy of Savoy
Duchy of Savoy
From 1416 to 1847, the House of Savoy ruled the eponymous Duchy of Savoy . The Duchy was a state in the northern part of the Italian Peninsula, with some territories that are now in France. It was a continuation of the County of Savoy...
.
It was connected by a railway line to Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in 1892.
Main sights
- The Gothic Acqui CathedralAcqui CathedralAcqui Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Acqui Terme, in the province of Alessandria and the region of Piedmont, Italy. It is the seat of the Bishop of Acqui.-History and description:...
, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, was built in the late 10th century and consecrated in 1067 by bishop Guido. It is a Romanesque edifice on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and four (originally two) aisles. The façade has a main portal sculpted by Antonio Pilacorte, a late 15th century rose windowRose windowA Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
and a 17th century portico. The Gothic bell tower is from 1479. The interior houses a late 15th-century triptych by the Spanish artist Bartolomé BermejoBartolomé BermejoBartolomé Bermejo was a Spanish painter who adopted Flemish painting techniques and conventions.-Biography:Bermejo, whose real name was Bartolomé de Cárdenas, was born in Córdoba...
, and a Baroque altar of Saint Guido. - The Palaeologi Castle, mentioned for the first time in 1056. It was rebuilt in the 15th century by Marquis William VII of Montferrat.
- Church of San Pietro or Addolorata, of Palaeo-Christian origins. It was almost entirely rebuilt in the 10th-11th centuries in Romanesque style, when it become a Benedictine abbey. It was again largely renovated in the 18th century, being returned to a neo-Romanesque appearance in the 1930s.
- Church of St. Francis. It includes two 15th century cloister of the former Franciscan convent.