Bassignana
Encyclopedia
Bassignana is a municipality (population 1,802) in the Province of Alessandria
, Piedmont
, Italy
. The village is situated near the confluence of the Po River
and the Tanaro river.
Main sights include remains of the castle, dating to Lombard
times, and a Romanesque
pieve
(10th century) with 12th century Byzantine frescoes.
tribe of the Marici (Ligures)
: they had crossed the Pennine in the postglacial era and had settled south of the Po river, in the area between Stradella
and Casale Monferrato
. Such people were closely linked to that of the Levi
, who had settled further north: the founding of Ticinum
, the modern Pavia
, is attributed to the Levi and to the Marici. Some toponomastic traces of that period exist in the area: Bosco Marengo
stems from Lucus Maricum and Pietra Marazzi
from Petra Maricorum or Mariciorum.
In the 6th century BC the Po valley
was occupied by Cceltic peoples coming from the north and realistically also Bassignana had contacts and compenetrations with these peoples. In 222 BC
the Roman
commanders Marcus Claudius Marcellus
and Gneus Cornelius Scipio conquered the whole area, which conquest was strengthened by the defeat of the Ligures in 166 BC under the consulate of Gaius Sulpicius Gallus
. The toponym of the municipality dates back to that era, coming from the Roman family to whom ownership of the territory was attributed, the gens Bassinia.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire
and the barbaric incursions, Bassignana was first under the rule of the Lombards
, then under that of the Franks
. In the 10th century , the emperor
Otto II
attributed Bassignana to the jurisdiction of the bishop of Pavia, Pietro, a jurisdiction relating to the Pieve (plebs) and to the assets connected thereto . At the beginning of the 13th century the area was placed - still following the Emperor's order - under the jurisdiction of the Margrave Pallavicino, already podestà
of Alessandria
.
In 1350 it became part of the Duchy of Milan
. After the Treaty of Utrecht
(1713), it was assigned to the House of Savoy
-Piedmont.
Many of its inhabitants emigrated to Memphis
, in the United States
, at the turn of the 19th century.
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....
, 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...
, 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...
. The village is situated near the confluence of the Po River
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...
and the Tanaro river.
Main sights include remains of the castle, dating to 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...
times, and a 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,...
pieve
Pieve
In the Middle Ages, a pieve was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended.The Italian word pieve is descended from Latin plebs which, after the expansion of Christianity in Italy, was applied to the community of baptized people...
(10th century) with 12th century Byzantine frescoes.
History
The first inhabitants of whom there is written news belonged to the LigurianLigures
The Ligures were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria, a region of north-western Italy.-Classical sources:...
tribe of the Marici (Ligures)
Marici (Ligures)
The Marici were a Ligurian people. In the Third Book of his Natural History Pliny the Elder identifies them as the co-founders, along with the Laevi, of Ticinum, the modern Pavia....
: they had crossed the Pennine in the postglacial era and had settled south of the Po river, in the area between Stradella
Stradella
-Places in Italy:Municipalities *Stradella, in the Province of Pavia, LombardyCivil parishes *Stradella , in the commune of Bigarello, Province of Mantua, Lombardy...
and 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...
. Such people were closely linked to that of the Levi
Levi
Levi/Levy was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi ; however Peake's commentary suggests this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
, who had settled further north: the founding of Ticinum
Ticinum
Ticinum was an ancient city of Gallia Transpadana, founded on the banks of the river of the same name a little way above its confluence with the Padus ....
, the modern Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
, is attributed to the Levi and to the Marici. Some toponomastic traces of that period exist in the area: Bosco Marengo
Bosco Marengo
Bosco Marengo is a town and comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km southeast of Turin and about 12 km southeast of Alessandria....
stems from Lucus Maricum and Pietra Marazzi
Pietra Marazzi
Pietra Marazzi is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km east of Turin and about 5 km northeast of Alessandria....
from Petra Maricorum or Mariciorum.
In the 6th century BC the Po valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
was occupied by Cceltic peoples coming from the north and realistically also Bassignana had contacts and compenetrations with these peoples. In 222 BC
222 BC
Year 222 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcellus and Calvus...
the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
commanders Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Marcus Claudius Marcellus , five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War...
and Gneus Cornelius Scipio conquered the whole area, which conquest was strengthened by the defeat of the Ligures in 166 BC under the consulate of Gaius Sulpicius Gallus
Gaius Sulpicius Gallus
Gaius Sulpicius Gallus or Galus was a general, statesman and orator of the Roman Republic.Under Lucius Aemilius Paulus, his intimate friend, he commanded the 2nd legion in the campaign against Perseus, king of Macedonia, and gained great reputation for having predicted an eclipse of the moon on the...
. The toponym of the municipality dates back to that era, coming from the Roman family to whom ownership of the territory was attributed, the gens Bassinia.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
and the barbaric incursions, Bassignana was first under the rule of the Lombards
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...
, then under that of the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
. In the 10th century , the emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Otto II
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II , called the Red, was the third ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty, the son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.-Early years and co-ruler with Otto I:...
attributed Bassignana to the jurisdiction of the bishop of Pavia, Pietro, a jurisdiction relating to the Pieve (plebs) and to the assets connected thereto . At the beginning of the 13th century the area was placed - still following the Emperor's order - under the jurisdiction of the Margrave Pallavicino, already podestà
Podestà
Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...
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...
.
In 1350 it became part of the Duchy of Milan
Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan , was created on the 1st of may 1395, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, purchased a diploma for 100,000 Florins from King Wenceslaus. It was this diploma that installed, Gian Galeazzo as Duke of Milan and Count of Pavia...
. After the Treaty of Utrecht
Treaty of Utrecht
The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed by the belligerents in the War of Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713...
(1713), it was assigned to the House of Savoy
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy was formed in the early 11th century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II, king of Croatia and King of Armenia...
-Piedmont.
Many of its inhabitants emigrated to Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, at the turn of the 19th century.