en Province of Alessandria

Province of Alessandria

*Provincia di Alessandria* (Italian)
*Provincia ëd Lissandria* (Piedmontese)
Province of Alessandria Provincia di Alessandria (Italian); Provincia ëd Lissandria (Piedmontese)
Province
	Palazzo Ghilini, seat of the province of Alessandria.
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location of the Province of Alessandria within Italy
Country	Italy
Region	Piedmont
Capital(s)	Alessandria
Comuni	190
Government
• President	Gianfranco Lorenzo Baldi
Area
• Total	3,558.83 km2 (1,374.07 sq mi)
Population (30 April 2017)
• Total	425,297
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
GDP
• Total	€11.722 billion (2015)
• Per capita	€27,238 (2015)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	15010-15013, 15015-15018, 15020-15036, 15038-15046, 15048-15053, 15055-15079, 15100
Telephone prefix	010, 019, 0131, 0141, 0142, 0143, 0144
Vehicle registration	AL
ISTAT	06

The province of Alessandria (Italian: provincia di Alessandria; Piedmontese: provincia ëd Lissandria; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: provinsa ëd Lissändria) is an Italian province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The provincial capital is the city of Alessandria.

With an area of 3,558.83 square kilometres (1,374.07 sq mi) it is the third largest province of Piedmont after the province of Cuneo and the Metropolitan City of Turin. To the north it borders on the province of Vercelli and to the west on the Metropolitan City of Turin and the province of Asti. It shares its southern border with Liguria (province of Savona and the Metropolitan City of Genoa). Its south-east corner touches the Province of Piacenza in Emilia Romagna, while to the east it borders on the Lombard province of Pavia.

History

The province was created by the Royal Decree n. 3702 of 23 October 1859, the Legge Rattazzi [it], as a union of five of the six provinces which had formed the Division of Alessandria (the provinces of Alessandria, Acqui, Asti, Casale and Tortona) plus the province of Novi which had formed part of the Division of Genoa. In 1935 the area of Asti was established as the separate Province of Asti.

Main sights

The Sacred Mountain of Crea (Italian: Sacro Monte di Crea) is a Roman Catholic Devotional Complex in the comune of Serralunga di Crea (Montferrat), near Alessandria. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in UNESCO World Heritage list. Its construction began in 1589, around a former Sanctuary of St. Mary whose creation is traditionally attributed to Saint Eusebius of Vercelli around 350 AD.

Municipalities

There are 190 municipalities (comuni, singular: comune) in the province^[2] the largest by population^[3] are:

City	Population
Alessandria	93,839
Casale Monferrato	34,246
Novi Ligure	28,343
Tortona	27,440
Acqui Terme	19,695
Valenza	19,054
Ovada	11,386
Arquata Scrivia	6,404
Serravalle Scrivia	6,062
Castelnuovo Scrivia	5,247