Vercelli
Vercelli (
Vërsèj in
Piedmontese), founded in 49
CE, is a
city of about 46,000 inhabitants, in the
Province of Vercelli,
Italy.
|
Piazza Cavour and the Torre dell'Angelo. |
The town is situated in the
Pianura Padana, between
Milan and
Turin. It is an important centre for the cultivation of
rice, and is surrounded by
paddy fields, which are flooded in summer.
Vercelli has a University of Literature and a satellite campus of the
Politecnico di Torino.
The
Battle of Vercellae was fought nearby in
101 BCE.
There are two noteworthy towers in the town: the
Torre dell'Angelo which rears up over the old market square (see picture), and the
Torre di Città in Via Gioberti.
St. Andrew's Basilica, started in 1219, is a remarkable example of
gothic and
romanesque architecture.
The
cathedral, dedicated to
St Eusebius, dates in part from 1572. It houses several art works andits library holds the famous
Vercelli Bookâ€"an
Old English manuscript which includes the celebrated alliterative poem
The Dream of the Rood, the 8th century
Laws of the Lombards and other early manuscripts.
The Museo Borgogna has an important collection of paintings, including examples of the work of
Titian and
Jan Brueghel the Elder as well as that of Piedmontese painters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The Museo Camillo Leone holds a rich collection of objects of archaeological and historic interest and of decorative art.
*
William of Montevergine (1085â€"1142) a wanderer, ascetic and founder of a number of monastic houses.
*
Il Sodoma (1477â€"1549?), also known as Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, an
Italian Mannerist painter.
*
Angelo Gilardino (born 1941), composer and classical guitarist.
The typical dish is rice with beans, called
panissa. The typical wine is Gattinara
DOCG, a classic red wine of Piedmont made principally from the
nebbiolo grape (known locally as
spanna) from the
comune of
Gattinara, where there is archaeological evidence of vines being grown in Roman times.
Unione Sportiva Pro Vercelli was one of the most successful
football clubs in Italy in earlier times, winning the national championship seven times between
1908 and
1922. Today it competes in the
Serie C2.
*
Communes of the Province of Vercelli*
vercelli.net has a range of articles, in Italian, on the history, architecture, gastronomy, etc, of Vercelli.
*Macadam, Alta (1997).
Blue Guide. Northern Italy: from the Alps to Bologna. London: A & C Black. ISBN 0-7136-4294-7.
*
Museo Borgogna.
*
Museo Camillo Leone.
*
Vini Italiani DOCG: Gattinara DOCG.
