Montechiaro d'Acqui is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of Alessandria The province of Alessandria (; ; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian Provinces of Italy, province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The prov ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

region

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, located about southeast of

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and about southwest of

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

. Montechiaro d'Acqui borders the following municipalities:

Cartosio Cartosio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southwest of Alessandria. Cartosio borders the following municipalities: Castelletto d'Erro, Cavat ...

Castelletto d'Erro Castelletto d'Erro is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southwest of Alessandria. Castelletto d'Erro borders the following municipalities: Bistag ...

Denice Denice is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southwest of Alessandria. As of 30 June 2017, it had a population of 175 and an area of .All demograp ...

Malvicino Malvicino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southwest of Alessandria. Malvicino borders the following municipalities: Cartosio, Montechiaro ...

Mombaldone Mombaldone is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Asti. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia () is a non-profit private associatio ...

, Ponti, and

Spigno Monferrato Spigno Monferrato is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southwest of Alessandria. History The land of Spigno was owned by the Count of Sales ...

History

The oldest trace of settlements in the area were found in the surroundings of the Pieve del Cauro (7th century), an old parish church under the influence of the Monastery of Saint Quintino of Spigno Monferrato, now in ruins just outside the hamlet Piana. This church was likely built on an ancient Roman ''statio'' placed along the

Via Aemilia Scauri The Via Aemilia Scauri was an ancient Roman road built by the consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus during his term as censor in 109 BC.E. Fentress, 'Via Aurelia, Via Aemilia' ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' LII, 1984, 72-76. Route It is ma ...

. In the 11-13th centuries, due to the increase of trade along the ridge route between the

Po valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

and the

Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera ( Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient Ligures people. Geography The sea borders Italy as far as ...

and the need to provide a better military defence, the current medieval village of Montechiaro Alto (Mons Cauri) was built. In that period, marquis Delfino del Bosco ceded the authority on Montechiaro to the city of

. However, in 1284 the inhabitants brokered a treaty with marquis Del Carretto. Then ruled by the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

, after the death of

Filippo Maria Visconti Filippo Maria Visconti (3 September 1392 – 13 August 1447) was the duke of Duchy of Milan, Milan from 1412 to 1447. Reports stated that he was "paranoid", but "shrewd as a ruler." He went to war in the 1420s with Romagna, Republic of Florenc ...

(1447) Montechiaro was occupied by the armies of

Francesco Sforza Francesco I Sforza (; 23 July 1401 – 8 March 1466) was an Italian condottiero who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan, ruling as its (fourth) duke from 1450 until his death. In the 1420s, he participated in the War of L'Aqui ...

. Since 1454 the fief was ceded to the noble families of Del Carretto of Bossolasco and then to Scarampi di

Cairo Montenotte Cairo Montenotte () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Savona in Liguria, an Italian region located west of Genoa and northwest of Savona. Located in Val Bormida, it is a member of the Comunità Montana Alta Val Bormida. It is co ...

. New trades and sales led to the rule of the Marquis of Canelli, the Scarampi-Crivello, the Cavoretti of Belvedere and the Gianazzo of Pamparato, which maintained the feud even after the oath of allegiance to the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

(1736). Since 18th century, Montechiaro was part of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

, the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

and, finally, of the

Italian Republic Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Located along a line of transit between the

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

and

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

harbour, the village has suffered the passage of armies involved in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(Battle of Mombaldone between France-Savoy and Spain, 1637) and the first Campaign of Italy (

Campaigns of 1796 in the French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars continued from 1795, with the French in an increasingly strong position as members of the First Coalition made separate peaces. Austria and Great Britain were the main remaining members of the coalition. The rebelli ...

) of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the municipal territory was an area of military activities against German and

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic (, ; RSI; , ), known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy (; SNRI), but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò (, ), was a List of World War II puppet states#Germany, German puppe ...

troops by the

Italian resistance movement The Italian Resistance ( ), or simply ''La'' , consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy ...

. Montechiaro has been the adopted homeland and ''buen ritiro'' of some great painters of the 20th century (Eso Peluzzi, Caffassi).

Transportation

The main road of the municipality is the National (now Local) Road n.30 Strada Provinciale 30 di Valle Bormida, passing through the hamlet Piana, in the valley of river Bormida di Spigno. Montechiaro d'Acqui has a

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

on the railroad Alessandria-San Giuseppe di Cairo, located in the hamlet Piana. It is served by local trains connecting villages and towns between

and

Twin towns

* Aspremont, France, since 2003

References

Cities and towns in Piedmont {{Alessandria-geo-stub