ALBA, DIOCESI di. - A city of Piedmont, capital of the Langhe, in the province of Cuneo, on a fertile plain at the confluence of the Cherasco torrent with the Tanaro.
It is the ancient Alba Pompeia, so called in honour of Pompeio Strabone, who had it granted Roman citizenship. It was a municipality of Regio IX (Cispadane) from Augustus to Diocletian; in the provincial reorganization of the Constantinian period it was included in the province of Liguria Marittima. It was the birthplace of the emperor Pertinace. Greatly enlarged through the incorporation of another municipality, it suffered severely from the Lombard invasion and, about 640, while remaining an episcopal see, ceased to be the seat of the local administration, which was transferred to Diano. The territory of A. thus formed part of the county of Diano until 1000, when the county of Alba was restored. Re-established and flourishing once more, A. soon came into conflict with Asti for political, territorial, and economic reasons, with varying fortunes ranging from the league concluded in 1204 to the treaty of 1223. Milan acted as arbiter in a war between Genoa, Asti, the marquis of Monferrato, and Chieri on one side, and A., Alessandria, Tortona, and Turin on the other; in 1227 it imposed a peace that was short-lived, since disputes and wars immediately broke out again. In 1238, with the restoration of imperial government, A. grew stronger, but it again succumbed in a war launched against it by Asti, which compelled it to accept a compromise peace in 1250. A. attained the height of its power during the war between Asti and the house of Savoy, concluding a commercial treaty with Genoa, but in 1258 it was
