Visone 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 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, ...

. Its name becomes from the homonymous Visone creek, that flows into its territory and enters Bormida river not far from the village. Visone borders the following municipalities:

Acqui Terme Acqui Terme (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is about south-southwest of Alessandria. It is one of the principal winemaking communes of the Italian DOCG wine Brachetto d'Acqui. The c ...

Grognardo Grognardo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southwest of Alessandria. Grognardo borders the following municipalities: Acqui Terme, Cavatore, ...

, Morbello, Morsasco, Prasco, and

Strevi Strevi is a ''comune'' and small town in the province of Alessandria, Italy, located immediately northeast of Acqui Terme. It is one of the principal winemaking communes of the Moscato d'Asti, Passito di Moscato, and Brachetto d'Acqui Brachett ...

History

The first mention of the village of Visone dates back to 4 May 991, when Anselmo, son of Aleramo marquis of Montferrat, and his wife Gisla sign the foundation charter of St. Quentin abbey in

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 ...

. In this period a large number of people of

Longobard The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and 796) t ...

origin moved to the village. But, some more ancient documents, about fifty years before mention a church placed at the confluence of the Caramagna creek with the Bormida river, into the actual municipal territory of Visone. At the beginning of the 13th century, a lot of possessions in this country are recognized to Manfredo Boccaccio by the

bishop of Acqui The Diocese of Acqui () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church that straddles the (civil) regions of Piedmont and Liguria, in northwest Italy. The ancient Roman name of the place was ''Aquae Statiellae'', which was sometimes confused with ''Aq ...

. His family will hold those inheritances for almost one century and a half, often in conflict with the bishop's Table on the grounds of the borders. In October 1450, the Acqui's

Cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

met into the church of St. Mary of Graces in Visone, to elect the new

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, because there was a terrible plague outbreak in Acqui. In 1469 the feud moved in the hands of the Malaspina family. In this period the castle is hugely restored by Antoniotto Malaspina. In 1519 Giovanni Malaspina sells the feud to Mary Boverio della Corba, first

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...

of Anne of Alençon, marquise of Montferrat. In the middle of the 17th century, Raimond of Cardona, descendant of Mary Boverio, sells the feuds and the castle to the noble Louis Centurione-Scotto, whose family will keep it up to the first half of the 20th century. On the night of 18-19 April 1861, a flood made a large part of the rock into a landslide, with a consequent collapse of the church of St. Maty of Graces and a lot of houses in the ancient hamlet of ''Malborghetto.'' In 1929 the municipality was suppressed, and joined to the one of Acqui Terme, and it has been restored back starting from 1948,D.Lgs. n. 1187 of August 20, 1947. following the liberation.

References

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