Acqui, Diocese of

ACQUI, Diocese of. - City in Piedmont, on the Bormida, a tributary of the Po, in the upper Monferrato. It is the ancient Aquae Statiellae, a center of the Ligurian Statielli, subdued by the Romans around 163 B.C. It was a Roman municipium included in Regio IX, and its geographical position helped make it economically flourishing in a short time. Many monuments attest to the degree of civilization reached by A., among them the ruins of a grand aqueduct 14 km long, which conveyed the waters of the Erro into the city. After the invasions of the Goths, A. was, in 568, occupied by the Lombards and elevated to a duchy, subject to the more important one of Asti. Charlemagne later placed over it, as over the other cities, a count. The erection of the bishopric of Alessandria (1175), whose territorial extent came at the expense of A., was the cause of wars between the two neighboring cities, and A. was often forced to resort to the help of the Marquis of Monferrato and to Frederick II himself, who succeeded, in 1224, in having a peace treaty stipulated between the two contenders. Sacked by Charles of Anjou (1273), it was retaken by the Marquises of Monferrato and, after alternating vicissitudes and disputes, remained under their lordship. In 1533, with the death of the last Marquis of Monferrato (Giangiorgio Paleologo), the marquisate passed to the Gonzaga of Mantua. In the 17th century it was repeatedly occupied by the Spanish and the French; in 1746 it passed to Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy. Devastated by the plague in 1630-31, it suffered further damage at the time of the Napoleonic wars.

A., famous for the thermal waters with which it is very rich, is part of the province of Alessandria and has 16,553 inhabitants. It possesses fine palaces, among them the episcopal one, from the 15th century; the cathedral, begun by Bishop Primo, is attributed to St. Guido, who probably completed and inaugurated it in 1067, dedicating it to the Virgin Assumed. Notable vicissitudes have altered its original Lombard structure. On the portal stands out the lunette with bas-reliefs by Antonio Pilacorta of Lugano, depicting the Assumption of the Virgin. The apse section highlights the original Romanesque character. The bell tower, in terracotta, is from the 13th century.

The diocese of A. was established toward the end of the 4th century. The first bishop that tradition remembers is St. Maggiorino, and it is probable that tradition corresponds to reality, because the pontifical catalogue, compiled toward the end of the 11th century, seems worthy of trust (F. Savio, pp. 9-16). The period of his pontificate is uncertain; his body, buried first in S. Pietro, was later transported to the Cathedral, where all traces of the tomb have been lost. A funerary inscription of the ancient cathedral (S. Pietro), where the bishops were buried, recalls the name of Ditario, who died in 488. The reliable series begins in 680 with Valentino. The cathedral was transferred by Bishop Dudone from the church of S. Pietro extra muros, built by the Lombard kings Ari-

open and Liutprand, to St. Mary. St. Peter's, burned by the Saracens and rebuilt by Bishop St. Guido, was granted by him to the Benedictine monks, who had a flourishing monastery there until the 15th century. The patron of the city is St. Guido, bishop from 1034 to 1070, whose feast is celebrated on the second Sunday of July; the cult ab immemorabili was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1853. A son of the counts of Acquesana, he endowed the diocese with goods and enriched the city with monuments and monasteries, among them that of St. Mary, near the Cathedral, for the Benedictine nuns.

A suffragan of Milan first, and from 1805 of Turin, the diocese of A. has 180,000 inhabitants, of whom 179,800 are Catholics; it comprises 90 communes in the province of Alessandria, 23 in that of Genoa, 1 in that of Cuneo, 147 parishes, 267 diocesan priests, 46 regular and 59 secular.

Noemi Crostarosa Scipioni