Pozzol Groppo is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of Alessandria The Province of Alessandria ( it, Provincia di Alessandria; pms, 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 o ...

in the

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

region

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, located about east of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) 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. Th ...

and about east of Alessandria. Pozzol Groppo borders the following municipalities:

Cecima Cecima is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 70 km south of Milan and about 35 km south of Pavia. Cecima borders the following municipalities: Brignano-Frascata, Godiasco, ...

Godiasco Godiasco Salice Terme (Western Lombard: ''Gudiass'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 60 km south of Milan and about 30 km south of Pavia. Geography The municipality ...

Momperone Momperone is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about southeast of Alessandria. Momperone borders the following municipalities: Brignano-Frascata, Casasco, ...

Montemarzino Montemarzino is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about east of Alessandria. Montemarzino borders the following municipalities: Avolasca, Casasco, Momp ...

, and Volpedo. The actual comune was formed from the merging, in 1929, of the two previous Pozzol and Groppo.

History

Documents prove that Pozzol Groppo, called Pozzolo del Groppo, has been under the dominion of the city of

Tortona Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) 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 Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Histo ...

since the twelfth century, so much so that it rushed to the aid of the latter when it was besieged by Frederick Barbarossa in 1155. In 1449 the town came under the control of the

Sforza family The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century, Sforza rule ending in Milan with the death of the last me ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, who in 1480 sent an expedition to punish the town, accused of being a den of bandits. In 1530 the marquis Cesare Malaspina of

took control and rebuilt the castle, then came the marquises of

Gavi GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

and finally, in 1595, the

Spinola family The House of Spinola, or Spinola family, was a leading Italian political family centered in the Republic of Genoa. Their influence was at its greatest extent in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Important members Guido Spinola was one o ...

on behalf of the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de 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 family, which had been ruling the city sinc ...

. Joined with the territories of

Bobbio Bobbio ( Bobbiese: ; lij, Bêubbi; la, Bobium) is a small town and commune in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a di ...

to the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

in 1743, according to the Treaty of Worms, then became part of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of Bobbio. In 1801 the territory was annexed to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

by Napoleon, until 1814. In 1818 it passed to the province of

Voghera The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera ( Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy. The population was 39,3 ...

and in 1859 to the province of

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

. In 1928 the town of Groppo was aggregated to Pozzolo, forming the current Pozzol Groppo and being included in the province of Alessandria.Royal Decree 10 August 1928, n. 1968, in Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia, n. 228, 1º October 1928. "Reunification of the municipalities of Groppo and Pozzol Groppo into a single municipality with the name " Pozzol Groppo " and municipal seat in San Lorenzo". During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

was the scene of battles between partisans and

fascists Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

. On January 31, 1945, in the hamlet of Biagasco, a military unit of fascists surprised and killed in the night some members of a partisan division. A

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

remembers the massacre.

Main sights

* The Malaspina castle, a powerful and noble family, feudal lord and lady of the lands of Pozzol Groppo for centuries, was built on the site of a Roman watch tower. The imposing building preserves inside a beautiful courtyard with a medieval well and sumptuous rooms with fireplaces, wooden ceilings and fresco decoration, keeping alive the prestige of an illustrious past. * The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activitie ...

, dedicated to San Lorenzo, is first documented in the 16th century. * In the hamlet of Biagasco is the oldest church in the village, mentioned in documents of the twelfth century * Near the church the shrine erected in memory of the 1945 massacre.

References

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