Pontecurone (

Piedmontese Piedmontese ( ; autonym: or ; ) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regarded as an Italian ...

: ''Poncròu'') 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 on the left bank of the Curone, about east 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 east 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, ...

. Pontecurone borders the following municipalities: Casalnoceto, Casei Gerola,

Castelnuovo Scrivia Castelnuovo Scrivia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about northeast of Alessandria. History The city was fortified around 500 CE by order of Theoderic ...

, Rivanazzano Terme,

Tortona Tortona (; , ; ) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Spinetta Marengo, Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Its ''frazione'' of ...

Viguzzolo Viguzzolo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about east of Alessandria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,964 and an area of .All demographi ...

, and

Voghera image:Voghera Castle.jpg, The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera (Emilian dialect, Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin language, Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia i ...

. In 1635 it was the site of a battle in which

Odoardo Farnese Odoardo Farnese may refer to: *Odoardo Farnese (cardinal) (1573–1626) * Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma (1612–1646) *Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma Odoardo Farnese (12 August 1666 – 6 September 1693) was the eldest son of Duke ...

duke of Parma and Piacenza The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy. It was created by Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) for his son Pier Luigi Farnese. It existed between 1545 and 1802 ...

and allied to the French, defeated the Spanish troops under Caspar Azevedo.

History

The first inhabited nucleus of Pontecurone can already be dated back to the

Augustan period Augustan is an adjective which means pertaining to Augustus or Augusta. It can refer to: * Augustan Age (disambiguation) * Augustan literature (ancient Rome) * Augustan prose * Augustan poetry * Augustan Reprint Society * Augustan literature * A ...

- with the flourishing of the

Via Postumia The Via Postumia was an ancient military Roman road of northern Italy constructed in 148 BC by the ''consul'' Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus. It ran from the coast at Genoa through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia (the termination of the ...

(which connected

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

via Voghera, Tortona and

Libarna Libarna was a Roman city located on the left bank of the Scrivia, on the stretch of the via Postumia between Genua and Dertona. Today Libarna's hamlet is part of the municipality of Serravalle Scrivia, in Alessandria province. Libarna's excava ...

) in the vicinity of the very important ford on the Curone - thanks to the discovery of numerous coins from that period in the territory. It appears since the Lombard age among the possessions of the abbey of San Colombano di Bobbio with the toponym ''Ponte Coroni''. A few years before the year 1000 (in 962),

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

donated some properties to the

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

monastery of

San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro The Basilica of St. Peter in the Golden Sky () is an 8th-century Catholic Church, Catholic basilica and monastery church served for centuries by the Order of St. Augustine, Augustinian friars in Pavia, in the Lombardy region of Italy. The basilic ...

, among which also the locality of ''Ponte Coironum'': this is the first written evidence of the existence of Pontecurone. In the

Vatican Gallery of Maps The Gallery of Maps ( Italian: ''Galleria delle carte geografiche'') is a gallery located on the west side of the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican containing a series of painted topographical maps of Italy based on drawings by friar and geograp ...

(late 16th century), Pontecurone is referred to as ''Pons Coronis''. In 1635, the army of Odoardo I Farnese,

Duke of Parma and Piacenza The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy. It was created by Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) for his son Pier Luigi Farnese. It existed between 1545 and 1802 ...

, allied with the French, defeated the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

under the command of Don Gaspare Azevedo, who perished in the battle. In more recent times, the railway bridge over the Curone was bombed several times by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

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 ...

. In fact, the stretch of railway passing through Pontecurone is of great strategic importance as the Alessandria-Piacenza and Milan-Genoa lines run through it.

Main sights

* Birthplace of Don Luigi Orione * Villa Signorini, current seat of the Municipality * Civic tower * Church of Santa Maria Assunta, mentioned as early as the 12th century but already pre-existing * Church of San Giovanni Battista * Oratory of San Francesco

Transport

Pontecurone is crossed in a westerly-easterly direction by the SS 10 Padana Inferiore road, which links

Monselice Monselice (; ) is a town and municipality (comune) located in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region, in the province of Padua about southwest of the city of Padua, at the southern edge of the Euganean Hills (''Colli Euganei''). ''Monselic ...

. The SP 93 Pontecurone-Castelnuovo Scrivia, the SP 96 Pontecurone-Rivanazzano, the SP 97 Pontecurone-Volpedo and the SP 98 Pontecurone-Viguzzolo also branch off from the town. Pontecurone has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

along the Alessandria-Piacenza and Milan-Genoa lines.

People

* Giuseppe Arezzi (1917-) * Saint Luigi Orione (1872–1940)

References

External links

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