Vercelli

Coordinates: 45°19′32″N 08°25′23″E / 45.32556°N 8.42306°E / 45.32556; 8.42306
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Vercelli
Vërsèj (Piedmontese)
Città di Vercelli
Piazza Cavour and the Torre dell’Angelo.
Piazza Cavour and the Torre dell’Angelo.
Coat of arms of Vercelli
Location of Vercelli
Map
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
13100
Dialing code0161
Patron saintEusebius of Vercelli
Saint dayAugust 1
WebsiteOfficial website

Vercelli (Italian pronunciation: [verˈtʃɛlli] ; Piedmontese: Vërsèj [vərˈsɛj]), is a city and comune of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around 600 BC.

The city is situated on the

rice paddies
, which are flooded in the summer. The climate is typical of the Po Valley with cold, foggy winters (0.4 °C (33 °F) in January) and oppressive heat during the summer months (23.45 °C or 74 °F in July). Rainfall is most prevalent during the spring and autumn; thunderstorms are common in the summer.

The languages spoken in Vercelli are Italian and Piedmontese; the variety of Piedmontese native to the city is called Varsleis.

The world's first university funded by public money was established in Vercelli in 1228 (the seventh university founded in Italy), but was closed in 1372. Today it has a university of literature and philosophy as a part of the

Politecnico di Torino
.

History

Vercellae (or Vercelum) was the capital of the Libici or Lebecili, a

Teutones in the Battle of Vercellae in 101 BC
.

The imperial

Duchy of Ivrea. From 885 it was under the jurisdiction of the prince-bishop, who was a Count of the Empire
.

It became an independent commune in 1120 and joined the first and second Lombard leagues. Its statutes are among the most interesting of those of the medieval republics. In 1197 they abolished the

was transferred to Vercelli, where it remained until the fourteenth century, but without gaining much prominence; only a university school of law has been maintained.

In 1307, Fra Dolcino, the leader of the Dulcinians was tortured and burned at the stake.

During the troubles of the 13th century, it fell into the power of the

dukes of Savoy
(1427).

In 1499 and 1553 Vercelli was captured by the French, and in 1616 and 1678 by the Spaniards. In 1704 it sustained an energetic siege by the French, who failed to destroy the fortress, after which it shared the fortunes of Savoy. In 1821 Vercelli rose in favour of the Constitution.

Government

Main sights

Vercelli is home to numerous relics of the Roman period, e.g. an amphitheatre, hippodrome, sarcophagi, and many important inscriptions, some of which are Christian.

There are seven noteworthy towers in the town, the most important are the Torre dell’Angelo, which rears up over the old market square, and the Torre di Città in Via Gioberti.

St. Andrew's Basilica.

Bernardino Lanino
, who were natives of Vercelli.

The cathedral's Capitulary Library contains valuable manuscripts. Its religious texts include the

Justinian; and the 8th-century Leges Langobardorum (Laws of the Lombards - Germanic). Finally, it contains the famous Vercelli Book — an Old English manuscript which includes the celebrated alliterative poem The Dream of the Rood
. The civil archives are not less important and contain documents dating from 882.

The

Cistercian monastery, it is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Romanesque monuments in Italy. Among other noteworthy churches in the city is the Santa Maria Maggiore
.

Vercelli's synagogue, an example of Moorish Revival architecture, is located at Via Foà 70 and the city's Jewish cemetery at Corso Randaccio 24.[3] On 23 November 2013, after what was believed to be an antisemitic act, two swastikas were found sprayed on its walls.[4]

The Institute of the Beaux-Arts contains paintings by Vercellese artists.

Ancient charitable institutions continue, such as the hospital founded by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (1224), which has an annual revenue of more than 600,000 lire ($117,000); and the hospices for orphan girls (1553) and for boys (1542), and mendicant homes.

Vercelli is the seat of the Viotti International Music Competition.

Demographics

In 2007, 44,475 people were recorded as residing in Vercelli, of whom 47.3% were male and 52.7% were female. Minors (children aged 18 and younger) totalled 14.41% of the population and pensioners 25.83%; the overall national averages are, respectively, 18.06% and 19.94%. The average age of a Vercelli resident was 47 (five years more than the national average of 42) and the birth rate was 8.69 births per 1,000 inhabitants (national average of 9.45 births per 1,000 inhabitants). In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Vercelli declined by 1.31% while the national population grew by 3.56%.[5]

As of 2006, 92.38% of the population was

Italian. The remainder were Albanian and Romanian (3.48%), North African (2.21%) and Sub-Saharan (0.64%). Approximately 1 in 6 babies born in Vercelli has at least one foreign parent.[6]

Museums

Notable people

Giovanni Antonio Bazzi

Sport

Virginio Rosetta, 1932

Cuisine

The typical dish is rice with beans, called panissa (made with Arborio, Baldo or Maratelli rice), the tartufata (cake) and the bicciolani a type of biscuit. 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.

Sport

football
clubs in Italy in the early 20th century, winning the national championship seven times between 1908 and 1922. However, in the summer of 2010, it was not admitted to the league due to heavy debt.

F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892. Currently, it plays in Serie C
.

Twin towns

See also

  • Communes of the Province of Vercelli

References

  1. ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Jewish Cemeteries". Chabad Travel Guide. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Vercelli, svastiche sul cimitero ebraico L'incursione è stata compiuta nella notte". L'UNIONE SARDA.it. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  5. ^ "Statistiche demografiche ISTAT (2002)". demo.istat.it.
    "Statistiche demografiche ISTAT (2007)". demo.istat.it.
  6. ^ "Statistiche demografiche ISTAT (2006)". demo.istat.it. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Museo Leone Vercelli | Home". www.museoleone.it.
  8. ^ Rossetti, William Michael (1911). "Sodoma, Il" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). p. 343.

Further reading

Sources and external links