Vercelli
Vercelli is a city and comune of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC. The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river Po between Milan and Turin. It is an important centre for the cultivation of rice, and is surrounded by paddy fields, which are flooded in summer. The climate is typical of the Po Valley with cold, foggy winters (0.4 °C (33 °F) in January) and oppressive heat during the summer months (23.45 °C (74 °F) in July). Rainfall is most prevalent during the spring and autumn; thunderstorms are common in the summer. The world's first university funded by public money was established in Vercelli in 1228. Today it has a university of literature and philosophy as a part of the Università del Piemonte Orientale and a satellite campus of the Politecnico di Torino.
Main sights
Vercelli is home to numerous relics of the Roman period, e.g. an amphitheatre, hippodrome, sarcophagi, and many important inscriptions, some of which are Christian. There are two noteworthy towers in the town: the Torre dell'Angelo, which rears up over the old market square, and the Torre di Città in Via Gioberti. St. Andrew's Basilica. Vercelli Cathedral, formerly adorned with precious pillars and mosaics, was erected and enlarged by Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, to whom it was dedicated after his death. It was remodelled in the ninth century, and radically changed in the sixteenth by Count Alfieri. Like the other churches in the city, it contains valuable paintings, especially those of Gaudenzio Ferrari, Gerolamo Giovenone and Lanino, who were natives of Vercelli. The cathedral library holds the famous Vercelli Book—an Old English manuscript which includes the celebrated alliterative poem The Dream of the Rood, the 8th-century Laws of the Lombards, and other early manuscripts. The Basilica di Sant'Andrea was erected by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri in 1219. Together with the old Cistercian monastery, it is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Romanesque monuments in italy. The Moorish Revival 1878 Vercelli Synagogue is at Via Foà 70. Among other noteworthy churches is Santa Maria Maggiore. The Institute of the Beaux-Arts contains paintings by Vercellese artists. Ancient charitable institutions continue, such as the hospital founded by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (1224), which has an annual revenue of more than 600,000 lire ($117,000); and the hospices for orphan girls (1553) and for boys (1542), and mendicant homes. The archives of the metropolitan chapter contain valuable manuscripts, including an evangelarium of the fourth century, the "Novels" of Justinian, the Leges Langobardorum (Laws of the Lombards - Germanic); Étienne Baluze's Capitularia regum Francorum (Acts of the Franks) (1677 version of medieval manuscripts); also hagiographical manuscripts, not all of which have been critically examined; and a very old copy of the Imitation of Christ, which is relied upon as an argument for attributing the authorship to John Gersen. The civil archives are not less important, and contain documents dating from 882. The extensive seminary contains a large library. Vercelli is seat of the Viotti International Music Competition.
Main sights
Vercelli is home to numerous relics of the Roman period, e.g. an amphitheatre, hippodrome, sarcophagi, and many important inscriptions, some of which are Christian. There are two noteworthy towers in the town: the Torre dell'Angelo, which rears up over the old market square, and the Torre di Città in Via Gioberti. St. Andrew's Basilica. Vercelli Cathedral, formerly adorned with precious pillars and mosaics, was erected and enlarged by Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, to whom it was dedicated after his death. It was remodelled in the ninth century, and radically changed in the sixteenth by Count Alfieri. Like the other churches in the city, it contains valuable paintings, especially those of Gaudenzio Ferrari, Gerolamo Giovenone and Lanino, who were natives of Vercelli. The cathedral library holds the famous Vercelli Book—an Old English manuscript which includes the celebrated alliterative poem The Dream of the Rood, the 8th-century Laws of the Lombards, and other early manuscripts. The Basilica di Sant'Andrea was erected by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri in 1219. Together with the old Cistercian monastery, it is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Romanesque monuments in italy. The Moorish Revival 1878 Vercelli Synagogue is at Via Foà 70. Among other noteworthy churches is Santa Maria Maggiore. The Institute of the Beaux-Arts contains paintings by Vercellese artists. Ancient charitable institutions continue, such as the hospital founded by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (1224), which has an annual revenue of more than 600,000 lire ($117,000); and the hospices for orphan girls (1553) and for boys (1542), and mendicant homes. The archives of the metropolitan chapter contain valuable manuscripts, including an evangelarium of the fourth century, the "Novels" of Justinian, the Leges Langobardorum (Laws of the Lombards - Germanic); Étienne Baluze's Capitularia regum Francorum (Acts of the Franks) (1677 version of medieval manuscripts); also hagiographical manuscripts, not all of which have been critically examined; and a very old copy of the Imitation of Christ, which is relied upon as an argument for attributing the authorship to John Gersen. The civil archives are not less important, and contain documents dating from 882. The extensive seminary contains a large library. Vercelli is seat of the Viotti International Music Competition.
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