Country Italy Elevation 182 m (597 ft) Time zone CET (UTC+1) Province Province of Alessandria Postal code 15059 Dialling code 0131 | Province / Metropolitan city Alessandria (AL) Demonym(s) Volpedesi Area 10.6 km² Local time Wednesday 1:44 AM Region Piedmont | |
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Frazioni Cà Barbieri, Cà Stringa, Croce, Casanova Weather 14°C, Wind SE at 6 km/h, 67% Humidity | ||
Volpedo is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Turin and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Alessandria.
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Map of 15059 Volpedo Province of Alessandria, Italy
Volpedo borders the following municipalities: Casalnoceto, Godiasco, Monleale, Montemarzino, Pozzol Groppo, and Volpeglino.
Painter Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo was born in this village.
History
A burial slab, now enclosed in the parish church's walls, shows the Roman presence in the area in the 1st century BC, although the area was perhaps already inhabited by the Ligures.
In the 10th century it is documented as Vico Picolo ("Small village") and received a Romanesque pieve and a castrum, a fortified village whose walls, rebuilt in the 16th century, are still visible today. In the 12th century it was known as Vicus pecudis, and was connected to the commune of Tortona, sending relief troops to that city during the siege laid by Frederick Barbarossa in 1155.
In 1347 Tortona was annexed by the Visconti of Milan who, in 1412, gave Volpedo as a fief to the condottiero Piero Cameri. The latter ceded the town to the Cathedral of Milan. In 1513 the troops of Volpedo, of Guelph allegiance, was destroyed by the historical Ghibelline rival town of Monleale; the walls were rebuilt in 1589, when Milan was under Spanish domination.
In 1738 Volpedo, together with all the area of Turin, was acquired by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont), and was given as a fief to marquis Filippo Guidobono Cavalchini. In 1849 it became a possession of the Malaspina.
Between 1928 and 1947, the communes of Berzano, Monleale and Volpeglino were merged into that of Volpedo.