Alessandria

History

Ancient Age

Prior to the Roman conquest, the area of Alessandria was occupied by the Statielli, people who belonged to the group of Ligures. By the end of the 3rd century BC, the Roman conquest of Cisalpine Gaul occurred, which led to the romanization of Ligures. In 42 BC the province of Cisalpine Gaul was abolished and integrated into Roman Italy. The villages of Rovereto and Bergoglio, from which the modern-day town originated, were probably founded during the first centuries of the Roman Empire. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD and that of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in the following century, the territory was divided in manorialisms during the Lombard Kingdom, among which the most prominent one was Marengo. In Marengo, the tower of Theodelinda was built in the 8th century.

Middle Ages

Alessandria wasn't founded overnight as the legend says. It was a collective, slow, tiring achievement, the result of collaboration from different people.

Italy passed in 774 from the Lombards to the Frankish Kingdom. The manorialism of Rovereto, which will have a key role in the birth of Alessandria, probably dates back to this period. In 962 the King of Germany Otto the Great conquered Italy and established the Holy Roman Empire. Nonetheless, Italian towns preserved a certain autonomy and were required to pay taxes to the Emperor only when he would travel to Italy. Frederick Barbarossa decided that such a situation was not good anymore, therefore he established the Diet of Roncaglia and, in 1162, destroyed Milan, the most important Italian commune at the time. The other communes decided therefore to join forces and fight against the Emperor to preserve their autonomy. To do so, they gave birth to the Lombard League. To attract the Emperor to Italy, the League founded a new civitas, an act that was an exclusive imperial privilege. The city, which was simply known as Civitas Nova, was established in the area of Rovereto, both because it was close to the possessions of the March of Montferrat, loyal ally of the Empire, and because its position was easily defendable, being located between the Tanaro and Bormida rivers. The new-born town was populated with the contributions of nearby villages and fortified with funding from Republic of Genoa. On 3 May 1168, the three consuls of Civitas Nova signed in Lodi the adhesion to the Lombard League; as of today, this date is still considered the official date of foundation of the city. Two years later, the new-born town was offered to Pope Alexander III who agreed to make it his fiefdom, thus legitimating the fight of Northern Italy's communes against the Emperor. The city's name was thus changed to Alessandria.

The provocation of the communes worked as planned: the Emperor came to Italy in 1174 and on 29 October, after having destroyed Susa and defeated Asti, laid siege to Alessandria. Against all expectations, Alessandria's people resisted for the whole winter and, on 12 April, the Emperor gave up the siege, as the League's army was coming to the city's defence. The armies met each other in Montebello but, instead of fighting, they decided to negotiate a peace. However, peace talks failed, leading to the famous battle of Legnano, which constituted a clear defeat for Barbarossa. Nevertheless, after the Peace of Constance Alessandria was given to the Emperor and it was renamed Cesarea (Kaiserstadt).

A legend (related in Umberto Eco's novel Baudolino, and which recalls one concerning Bishop Herculanus’ successful defence of Perugia several centuries earlier) says that, during the siege, the city was saved by a quick-witted peasant, Gagliaudo: he fed his cow with the last grain remaining within the city, then took it outside the city walls until he reached the Imperial camp. Here he was captured, and his cow cut open to be cooked: when the Imperials found the cow's stomach filled with grain, Gagliaudo was asked the reason to waste such a rich meal. He answered that he was forced to feed his cow with grain because there was such a lot of it, and no room to place it within the city. The Emperor, fearing that the siege would last too long, left Alessandria free. A statue of Gagliaudo can be found on the left corner of the city's cathedral.

Modern Age

The county of Alessandria remained steadily under Milan and followed its destiny: initially the House of Sforza restored the Duchy, which was subsequently occupied multiple times by the French, then Milan became a Spanish province. With its submission, first to Milan and then to Spain, Alessandria lost that autonomy that had distinguished the city ever since its foundation, even though its new political stability favoured its rapid development, which made of the town an important commercial hub between Lombardy and Genoa. The Tanaro bridge, whose construction started in 1455 after the will of Francesco Sforza, was equipped with new flooring and covering during the 17th century.

The city was then affected by the Franco-Spanish War: Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti and Francesco I d'Este, at the head of the Franco-Savoy army, tried to conquer Alessandria, which was defended by the Spanish-Lombard army, in 1657. The siege failed and the city stayed Lombard.

In 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Alessandria was occupied by the imperial army, which was commanded by Prince Eugene of Savoy. At the end of the conflict, the peace of Utrecht resulted in the annexation of Alessandria to the Duchy of Savoy. The city's strategic position, on the border with the Austrian provinces of Lombardy, induced Victor Amadeus II to fortify it by building an imposing star-shaped citadel, which took the place of Bergoglio. Defeat in the battle of Bassignana and the subsequent French siege of the citadel seemed to mark the Savoy fate in the war of the Austrian succession, but the situation was reversed with the battle of Piacenza.

Contemporary Age

The first Italian campaign, caused by the expansionistic ambitions of revolutionary France, resulted in the French occupation of Alessandria's citadel. The Russian army, member of the second coalition and led by Alexander Suvorov, drove the French away in 1799. However, following France's victory in the second Italian campaign, which culminated in the battle of Marengo (on 14 June 1800), which took place on Alessandria's territory, the whole Duchy of Savoy came under French occupation.

The official annexation to France occurred in 1802, when Alessandria also became the capital of the newly-established department of Marengo. Napoleon decided for major architectural renovations for the city: the citadel was enlarged and its fortifications were modernized, while the ancient Gothic cathedral was demolished and replaced with a new one, in a Neoclassic style. The brass rooster, taken away from Casale, was moved from the cathedral onto the town hall building, while the angel went lost. During this period another fort was built to the North of the city. The remains of a second fort to the South of the city (Cristo neighbourhood) have been sliced in two by a railway (Forte Ferrovia); a third one still remains in the middle of Cristo (Forte Acqui).

Later, in 1814, the city was conquered by the Austrians and, on 30 May of the same year, following the treaty of Paris, returned to be part of the Duchy of Savoy.

Innanzi a tutti, o nobile Piemonte,quei che a Sfacteria dorme e in Alessandriadiè a l'aure per primo il tricolore, Santorredi Santarosa.Before all of them, oh noble Piedmont,that who rests on Sphacteria and who, in Alessandria,waved the Tricolour for the first time,Santorre of Santarosa.

The 1821 insurrection in the Kingdom of Sardinia began in Alessandria: on 10 March 1821, the insurgents, led by Santorre of Santarosa, took control of the citadel and proclaimed the Constitution, raising a tricolour flag for the first time in the Risorgimento, even though it is not known for sure whether the flag was actually green, white and red, or if it had slightly different colours. In 2021 the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, wrote a letter to the mayor of Alessandria to commemorate the bicentenary of the historic event. The revolt, which failed, convinced Charles Felix of Sardinia to give in to pressure from the Austrian Empire, which had already proposed to the King a preventive occupation of the citadel to fight a possible insurrection, aiming to move the western border of the Empire to Alessandria. Thus, the citadel came under foreign occupation for two years. Andrea Vochieri and other five patriots who had taken part in the insurrection were shot.

Jewish history

The first known Jew in Alessandria, named Abraham (son of Joseph Vitale de Sacerdoti Cohen) opened a loan bank in or about 1490. In 1590, the Jews were expelled from the Duchy of Milan, and one of Abraham's descendants travelled to Madrid, which ruled the Duchy, and was permitted to stay in the town due to a large sum owed him by the government. Of the 230 Jews living in the city in 1684, 170 were members of the Vitale family. The Jewish Ghetto was established in 1724. Between 1796 and 1814, among the rest of Italian Jewry, the city Jewish congregation was emancipated, under French influence. According to Benito Mussolini's census in 1938, the town had 101 Jews. On 13 December 1943, the synagogue on Via Milano was attacked by supporters of the Italian Social Republic. Books and manuscripts were taken out of the synagogue and were set on fire at Piazza Rattazzi. In total, 48 Jews were deported from the province of Alessandria, most of them to Auschwitz where they were murdered.

Geography

Alessandria is located at an altitude of about 100 meters above sea level, on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, close to their confluence.

Its favourable geographic position, together with its big train station and its three motorway exits, make it a strategic hub for trade and transport. The city is served by the A21 and the A26 motorways. Moreover, it has a ring road that runs along the city border from North to South, which has many urban exits, as well as connections linking Alessandria with the main smaller towns of its province (Casale Monferrato, Valenza, Tortona, Novi Ligure, Ovada and Acqui Terme).

The city is characterized by long and wide boulevards, which make vehicle circulation quite smooth, spacious squares and a pedestrian-oriented city centre.

Climate

Alessandria is characterized by the typical Po valley's climate, which is humid subtropical (Köppen climate classification Cfa). Winters are cold and foggy, while summers are hot and humid.

Rainfall is not very abundant (circa 600 mm per year) and occurs mostly in autumn and spring. Alessandria's climate is more continental than in the rest of Piedmont: winters tend to be harsher due to the higher number of foggy days, while summers tend to be more humid. July is the warmest and driest month, with 40 mm of rainfall on average that is usually concentrated in one or two storms. As a consequence, while minimum temperatures in winter often sink below 0 °C, maximum temperatures can reach peaks of 38/39 °C on the warmest days in summer.

Demographics

As of 2026, the population is 93,409, of which 49.1% are male, and 50.9% are female. Minors make up 14% of the population, and seniors make up 26.3%.

Immigration

As of 2025, of the known countries of birth of 90,620 residents, the most numerous are: Italy (73,769 – 81.4%), Albania (3,874 – 4.3%), Romania (2,883 – 3.2%), Morocco (2,785 – 3.1%), Nigeria (570 – 0.6%), China (558 – 0.6%).

Religion

The most diffused religion in Alessandria is Christianity; particularly, the vast majority of Christians are Catholic. The city is indeed home to the Diocese of Alessandria, which is suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vercelli and belonging to the ecclesiastical region of Piedmont. Alessandria's bishop is Guido Gallese. In 2022 the Diocese of Alessandria counted 140 500 baptized out of 153 500 inhabitants.

Nevertheless, several religious minorities are present, both of antique origin, like the Jewish one, and as direct consequence of immigration. The most diffused religious minorities are:

the Jewish community of Alessandria, with its synagogue, which had a relevant role in the history of the city and of Montferrat;

the Orthodox community, present in the town mainly due to the Russian Orthodox and the Orthodox church of St. Nicholas, opened in 2008; moreover, there are the Moldovan and Romanian Orthodox, who have the Orthodox church of the Saint Hierarch Barlaam of Moldova;

the Waldo- Methodist community;

the community of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, whose first tentative of foundation dates back to 1935;

the Adventist community;

the community of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormon missionaries), present in town since the earlier 1970s;

the community of Pentecostalism and of the Assemblies of God in Italy;

the community of the Jehovah's Witnesses;

the community of the Evangelical Christian Church of the Brethren;

the community of the Churches of Christ;

Institutions and associations

Hospital Santi Antonio and Biagio and Cesare Arrigo, which is an excellence in the region and was inserted in the Sole 24 Ore's list of Italy's 21 best hospitals in 2025.

Government

The mayor of Alessandria is Giorgio Abonante, member of the Italian Democratic Party. He won the communal elections in June 2022: after gaining 42.0% of the votes in the first round, he won the runoff election with 54.4% of the votes, beating the centre-right coalition, led by Gianfranco Cuttica di Revigliasco, and replacing him as mayor of the city. Abonante's coalition was composed, in order of votes gained in the 2022 election, by the Italian Democratic Party, the civic list Lista Abonante per Alessandria, the Moderates, the civic list Alessandria civica, the Five Star Movement and the Greens.

Symbols

Coat of arms

Alessandria's coat of arms dates back to the same years of the town's foundation, as it was established in 1175 to celebrate the end of Barbarossa's siege.

With a decree of the Head of the Government on 6 March 1941 the blazon of Alessandria's coat of arms is:

Of Argent to the gules cross, surrounded by two branches of oak and laurel, knotted by a ribbon of national colours; supporters: two natural griffins, counter-rampant, with heads turned and wings spread; motto: Deprimit Elatos Levat Alexandria Stratos; City's crown.

Originally, the supporters were two angels, but they were replaced by two griffins in 1814.

Some people claim that the red cross comes from Milan's coat of arms, adopted by many communes belonging to the Lombard league. Others, instead, claim that the red cross should be attributed to gift that pope Alexander III offered to the town with the provision of the ius episcopale: the Vexillum Beati Petri, of white colour to the red cross.

Honours

In 2016 Alessandria received a special mention for: "...the constant effort for accessibility in hard times, for its effort to make the urban environment accessible to all citizens independently of their capacity or age", in the context of the European Access city award.

Culture

Education

Civic Library "Francesca Calvo", founded in 1806.

Library of the State's Archive of Alessandria, founded in 1940.

Diocese Library of the Bishop's Seminary, founded by Alessandria's bishop Giuseppe Tommaso de Rossi between 1774 and 1776, which was accessible to both the seminarists and the littérateurs of the time, thus becoming a public library.

Library of the Conservatorio Antonio Vivaldi, founded in 1941.

Library of the Institute for the History of Resistance and of Contemporary Society in the Province of Alessandria, founded in 1978 and located in Palazzo Guasco.

Library of Southern Piedmont's Archeologic Group, founded in 1990.

Library of the Department of Sciences and Technological Innovation and of the Department of Juridical and Economical Sciences of the University of Eastern Piedmont, founded in 1993.

Library of Alessandria's Theatre Society, founded in 1986.

Library of the Civilian Hospital Santi Antonio and Biagio, founded in 1902.

Popular Library "Serafino Bruna", founded in 1914.

Alessandria can count on several high schools, which attract students from all over the province and even some from other provinces:

Grammar High School "Umberto Eco";

Scientific High School "Galileo Galilei";

Scientific High School of Applied Sciences and Technical Institute "Alessandro Volta";

Museums

Civic Museum. Reopened in the Palazzo Cuttica di Cassine, it features, among others: two 17th century tapestries from Flanders of exquisite workmanship; an interesting polyptych of the Virgin Mary by Gandolfino d'Asti; the sacred vestments of Pope Pius V; an archeologic collection of Pre-Roman and Roman Age; some artworks dedicated to Napoleon and to the battle of Marengo.

Ethnographic Museum "C'era una volta".

Theatre of Sciences. It is composed of two sections: the museum of natural science and the planetarium.

Marengo Museum. It is dedicated to the battle of Marengo.

Museum of Iron.

Borsalino Museum. Located in Palazzo Borsalino, it features all the hat models produced by Borsalino since its foundation in 1857.

Bicycle Museum "Alessandria città delle Biciclette (AcdB)". Inaugurated in 2016 in Palazzo Monferrato, it is dedicated to the history of the bicycle in the town and to the champions that started their career in and around Alessandria.

Forum Fulvii Antiquarium.

Art Collection of Alessandria's Savings Bank.

Museum of the River.

Museum of Historical Uniforms (1848–1946). It is located in the citadel.

Art gallery.

Theatre

Alessandria's theatrical production flourished over the centuries.

In the new political context following the peace of Utrecht, Alessandria found new stimuli for its social and cultural life. For instance, the Marquis Filippo Guasco Gallarati of Solerio decided to install a small public theatre in his palace (Palazzo Guasco): the first city theatre was thus born. On March 27, 1729 the King of Sardinia Victor Amadeus II handed over to the Marquis the royal authorization for the opening and the management of his theatre.

In September of the same year, at the presence of the Crown Prince Charles Emmanuel, the theatre was officially inaugurated.

In 1766 the aversion to the theatre from the bourgeois and the clergy resulted in the marquises of Solerio giving up: in that year the last play of Pietro Metastasio's Semiramis took place, after which the theatre was shut down. The marquises then handed the royal authorization to the decurions so that they could use them for the new Municipal Theatre.

The Municipal Theatre was built within the town hall building. One can still see the theatre's foyer, which hosts today the Office for Public Relations.

The construction began on 6 September 1772 and, three years later, the architect Giuseppe Caselli handed to the city its new theatre. On the evening of 17 October 1775 the front curtain of the new theatre was opened for the first time. From the stage one could notice the perfect hemicycle of the hall arranged in a horseshoe shape, with four tiers of boxes and, above them, a small paradise. The theatre had around 1500 seats. The piece that was selected for the inauguration was Antigona set to a libretto of Gaetano Roccaforte and music of Ferdinando Bertoni.

One of the most famous 19th century conductors that played on the stage of the Municipal Theatre was Antonino Palminteri.

The theatre's life ended in 1944 when, during the aerial bombing of May 1st, the theatre and the part of the building to which it belonged were seriously damaged by a fire.

Music

Alessandria is home to the Conservatorio Antonio Vivaldi. It was born as a free music school in 1858, thanks to the support of the city administration of the time. Around 1880 the school was enlarged and in 1892 the communal council issued a regulation in 58 articles. In 1928 it became a Civic Music High School and in 1955 it was moved into a wing of Palazzo Cuttica di Cassine, next to the cathedral. Starting from 1969 it became a State Conservatorio, with an annexed middle school.

Cuisine

The typical dishes and desserts of Alessandria, apart from those of Piedmont's tradition, are:

rabatòn (rolls made of spinach, ricotta and herbs, boiled in hot water and then baked au gratin with cheese, butter and salvia);

chicken Marengo (chicken seasoned with crayfish and eggs, whose name comes from the famous battle of Marengo);

farinata (also known as bela cauda, a chickpea cake from the Genoa tradition, which became popular in the town due to the intense relationship between the sea and the valley);

lacabòn (typical dessert based on honey and egg white, sold on the days of Santa Lucia and Sant'Antonio)

Sights

The city centre is characterized by the spacious Piazza della Libertà, which was known back in the day first as Platea Maior and successively, after the Italian unification, as Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. The place-of-arms, wanted by Napoleon, was obtained by demolishing, in 1803, the antique 12th century St. Peter's Cathedral, which was enlarged in the 13th century by Casale's architect Ruffino Bottino. In the first years of the 2000s a part of the old cathedral's foundations were brought to light for study purposes and then recovered. In the middle of the square there is a statue to Urbano Rattazzi from Ferruccio Pozzato, which replaced the older statue of Giulio Monteverde, melted in 1943 to obtain metals, during World War II.

Civil architecture

Palatium Vetus. The palace, in the central piazza della Libertà, was built around 1170. It played the function of Broletto in the 13th and 14th centuries, hence the centre of the political, administrative and judiciary life of the medieval commune. After many vicissitudes, in 1856 the Municipality of Alessandria granted the palace to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which stationed there the guards of the Division Command. Until 1995 the building hosted the Military Presidium and District and, since 2012, it is the headquarters of city's savings bank foundation, which financed its restoration.

Palazzo Guasco. Located in via Guasco, its history dates back to the first centuries of the city's foundation, but today's structure is from the 17th century. The building's right wing hosts some sections of the provincial administration: the Management of Economy and Development of the Province of Alessandria (which comprehends the Department of Culture and the Department of Tourism), the Provincial Library of Local Publishing, the Institute for the History of Resistance and of Contemporary Society and the Modern Arts Gallery. The palace's left wing is of private property and even includes a small theatre, closed to the public.

Town Hall. Known as Palazzo Rosso (Red Palace) for its facade's colour, it was built in the 18th century and has a peculiar clock with three quadrants (one for the time of the day, one for the day of the year and one for the lunar phase). Noteworthy is the brass rooster on top of the building, taken away from Casale Monferrato in 1225. The building was destroyed by aerial bombings in 1944 and renovated after the end of the conflict.

Palazzo Ghilini. Commissioned by Tommaso Ottaviano Antonio Ghilini, marquis of the homonymous family, it is main building of the Province of Alessandria and of the Prefecture. Designed by Benedetto Alfieri in 1733, it is a classical example of Piedmontese Baroque and is often considered as the town's most beautiful and monumental palace.

Palazzo Cuttica di Cassine. Site of the Civic Museum, home to the Conservatorio Antonio Vivaldi and previously also of the Music High School.

Palazzo dal Pozzo. Located in piazzetta Santa Lucia, it dates back to the 18th century and it is a typical example of Baroque. It was home to the Società del Casino from 1862 to 1868, then to the notarial archive for some decades and, from 1962 to 1982 again to the Società del Casino.

Religious architecture

St. Peter's Cathedral. Built between 1170 and 1175, it was demolished by Napoleon in 1803. It was located in Platea Maior (today's Piazza della Libertà) and was, for more than 600 years, with partial demolitions, renovations, embellishments and adaptations, the core of the city's urban, religious and civilian fabric.

Church of Santa Maria di Castello*. Following the cathedral demolition, it is the oldest church of the town. It dates back to the 12th century, but even older remains were found, from the 8th and 9th century. Located in the heart of Borgo Rovereto, it is a fusion of the styles of different eras; in the underground it is possible to admire the remains of the two earlier churches.

Monastic complex of San Francesco. Deconsecrated, in the Middle Ages it used to be one of the main religious buildings of the town. It was covering a large part of the block that is today delimited by via XXIV Maggio, on which the main entry was, via Cavour, corso Cento Cannoni, via Lanza, vicolo dal Verme and via San Giacomo della Vittoria. In 1802 the building was abandoned by the Franciscans following the suppression of religious orders by Napoleon. The entire complex was thus first reused as cavalry barracks and then as military hospital.

Church of San Giacomo della Vittoria. The church was erected as a thanksgiving for the victory of Alessandria and the Visconti troops, led by the commander Jacopo dal Verme (from Verona) against the French, led by Jean III, Count of Armagnac. The victory, which even caused the death of Jean III, occurred on 25 July 1391, the day of St. James.

Church of Santa Maria del Carmine. It is among the oldest churches of the town, established by the Carmelites in the 14th century.

Monastic complex of San Bernardino. Built by the Order of Friars Minor around 1430, it was abolished by Napoleon in 1802 and completely demolished in 1841 to build a new prison, which was completed in 1845.

Church of the Beata Maria Vergine del Monserrato. It is the only building from the period of the Spanish domination of the city that is still existing as of today. It is located in the homonymous square in Borgo Rovereto and very close to the church of Santa Maria di Castello.

Military architecture

Military citadel. Located on the left bank of the Tanaro river, it is an imponent military complex built on the project of Ignazio Bertola and one of the most important military citadels in the world. The construction, wanted by Victor Amadeus II in the 18th century, caused the evacuation and demolition of the whole neighbourhood of Bergoglio. Owned by the State, it is possible to visit it thanks to the guides of the Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI): it has a star-shaped plant, with six ramparts surrounded by moats. It also hosts a military neighbourhood.

Barrack Valfré di Bonzo.

Fort Bormida.

Fort Ferrovia.

Fort Acqui.

Monumental trees

Napoleon's Platanus. Along the State Road n. 10, which links Alessandria to Spinetta Marengo, is Napoleon's Platanus, one of Italy's largest monumental trees. According to the legend, it was planted in 1800, following Napoleon's victory in the battle of Marengo. Of the platanus occidentalis species, it is 48 meters tall and has a circumference of more than 8 meters at the trunk basis. It seems that up until the beginning of the 20th century there were still five surviving specimens of a whole avenue that, from Alessandria's border, stretched until Marengo.

Events

The annual Fraskettando SkaBluesJazz Festival, which takes place on the first weekend of July, has showcased the Blues Brothers, Eddie Floyd, Al Di Meola, Taj Mahal, Soft Machine, Mario Biondi, Mick Abrahams & Clive Bunker and many others.

Michele Pittaluga International Classical Guitar Competition Premio Città di Alessandria

International Rally "Madonnina dei Centauri".

The International Kendo Trophy "City of Alessandria"

Sport

The town's professional football team is US Alessandria. Their stadium also hosts Juventus Next Gen, the reserve team for Serie A club Juventus Turin.

Transport

Alessandria railway station, opened in 1850, forms part of the Turin–Genoa railway. It is also a junction for six other lines, to Piacenza, Novara, Pavia, Cavallermaggiore, Ovada and San Giuseppe di Cairo, respectively. The nearest airports are Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport, Turin Airport and Milan's Malpensa Airport and Linate Airport.

Notable people

Sibilla Aleramo (1876–1960), writer

Walter Audisio (1909–1973), partisan

Saint Baudolino (c. 700 – c. 740), hermit of Forum Fulvii

Umberto Eco (1932–2016), writer

Francesco Faà di Bruno (1825–1888), mathematician and priest

Giovanni Ferrari (1907–1982), footballer

Marta Gastini (born 1989), actress

Blessed Teresa Grillo Michel (1855–1944), founder of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of Divine Providence.

Georgius Merula (c. 1430 – 1494), humanist

Giovanni Migliara (1785–1837), painter

Angelo Morbelli (1854–1919), painter

Elio Morille (1927–1998), rower

Cristina Parodi (born 1964), journalist

Pier Luigi Pasino (born 1981), actor

Magda Piccarolo (1912–?), soprano

Urbano Rattazzi (1808–1873), statesman of the Risorgimento

Gianni Rivera (born 1943), footballer

Franz Sala (1886–1952), film actor and makeup artist

Franco Sassi (1912–1993), painter

Twin towns – sister cities

Alessandria is twinned with: