CASALE MONFERRATO, DIOCESE OF. — In Piedmont, province of Alessandria, on the right bank of the Po.
It is of Roman origin, according to some the *Industria* of Pliny; in the Middle Ages it was called Casale S. Evasio from the name of its patron saint, as is read, for example, in the diploma dated 5 March 1186 of Emperor Frederick I, who placed those of *Casalem S. Evasio* under his protection (A. P. Frutaz, *Un diploma dell'imperatore Federico I per C. M.*, in *Riv. di storia, arte e archeologia di Alessandria*, 46 [1937], pp. 5-10). C. was destroyed in 1215 by the people of Vercelli; after being rebuilt, it came under the control first of the marquises of Monferrato of the Aleramici line, then of the Visconti, then of the Paleologi line of Monferrato, and finally passed to the Gonzaga of Mantua in the time of Charles V. After the siege of 1630, the Gonzaga regained it; from 1705 it belonged to the House of Savoy. Sixtus IV erected it as a diocese on 18 April 1474, as a suffragan of Turin. The first bishop was Bernardino Tibaldeschi (1474-1517). The diocesan archive was destroyed by fire in 1750. With the brief of Pius VII *Beati Petri Apostolorum* of 17 July 1817, C. became a suffragan of Vercelli. The diocese has an area of 1,200 sq. km.; it comprises 145 parishes with 259 diocesan priests and 131 regular clergy; the inhabitants number 142,000, of whom 141,900 are Catholic (1948).
The first record of a church dedicated to St Evasio in C. appears in a document of 12 May 974 of Bishop Ingone of Vercelli (F. Savio, *Gli antichi vescovi d'Italia dalle origini al 1300*, I, Piedmont, Turin 1899, pp. 117-24). According to tradition, the church of St Evasio is said to have been founded by King Liutprand, whose anniversary was celebrated on 28 January in the oldest obituaries of the church itself. It is also believed that the present structure of the building was consecrated by Pope Paschal II on 4 January 1107. In its structure it has affinities with the churches of St Michael and St Peter in Cielo d’Oro in Pavia, and with St Mary Major in Vercelli.
Characteristic is the atrium with intersecting arches and an upper gallery, between two towers, coeval with the rest of the building. A fire devastated the building to such an extent that a brief of Honorius III of 14 May 1218 ordered the bishops of Vercelli, Turin and Asti to provide for the needs of the church of St Evasio in C. (F. Savio, op. cit., p. 154). Reduced to a poor state, the building was almost demolished in 1856, but was saved by the intervention of Abbot A. Rosmini and the Casalese L. Canina (v.), to whom the restoration of the notable monument was to be entrusted, but he died before he could undertake II. The restoration by the architect E. Arborio poorly altered the notable monument, of which the atrium, some external biforas and some internal pavement mosaics survive, along with a silver crucifix of the 12th century and the tomb of Bishop Tibaldeschi by Sanmicheli. In the chapter archive, the oldest documents date to the 8th century; it preserves some illuminated liturgical books. The church of St Dominic, erected by Guglielmo VIII Paleologo (1469), retains its original structure.