Volpedo

  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
Stampa la pagina
viewtown hall
piazza della Libertà 26 

phone/fax number
+39 0131.806577  /  0131.80141

e-mail
info@comune.volpedo.al.it  



Agricultural and industrial centre of the Curone valley, it is located on the right bank of the Curone torrent. The town has a square plan and it was once surrounded by a boundary wall, now pulled down.

It is famous for its fruit production (especially of strawberries, apricots, apples and above all peaches); The Tortona region has almost a vocation for peach growing; the most known variety of peaches is that of Volpedo. The peach of Volpedo attracts buyers from all the most selective markets of Italy. These peaches are picked when maturation has almost been completed: the long permanence on the plants exalts their colour and scent.
Most of the peaches come from family-run farms and are put directly on the market or through the ‘Cooperativa Volpedo Frutta’, which represents the reference point for all the farmers of the valleys.
The town is member of the ‘Comunità Collinare dei colli tortonesi’.

In the Middle Ages Volpedo followed the fortunes of Tortona, passing under the control of the bishopric and remaining within the Milanese orbit until 1756, when the area around Tortona passed to the kingdom of Sardinia.

main sights
- Pieve di San Pietro: the Romanesque chapel of San Pietro was cited for the first time in a parchment paper of 965, kept in the  chapter archives in Tortona. It is considered one of the three Romanesque jewels of the Curone valley, along with those of Viguzzolo and Fabbrica Curone. It was the subject of major rebuilding during the 1400s, which, however, didn’t alter the Romanesque layout, with its arched doorway in the façade and semi-circular apse.
Inside there are three naves and a trussed ceiling. The church has a precious collection of many frescoes dating back to the second half of the 15th century. These frescoes decorate the walls and the pillars and can be attributed to five different authors, including the painters Giovanni Quirico da Tortona and Antonius.
- the noble Palazzo Malaspina, formerly Guidobono Cavalchini.
- a section of late-medieval walls.

> site and hamlets: Stellara, Ca’ Barbieri, La Cascinetta, Il Poggio, Ca’ di Stringa, Croce, Farmhouse Cappelletta.
> patronal day: Beato Giovannino
> inhabitants denomination: Volpedesi
> area: sq km 10,58

notable people:
Giuseppe Pellizza the author of the famous picture ‘Il Quarto Stato’ was born in Volpedo in 1868. After being part of ‘Accademia di Belle Arti’ of Brera, he left it to join that of Florence under the guide of Giovanni Fattori. His artistic career passes through different phases, from realism to a symbolic representation showed in the allegoric work ‘Lo specchio della vita’, which reminds to a stretch of the Curone valley. He finally joined Socialism with the realization of the picture ‘Il Quarto Stato’, which has made him very famous and to which he dedicated 10 years of efforts and studies.
There are many pictures showing foreshortenings of the rural views of the region of Tortona, with details of the Curone valley such as: ‘Il ponte’, ‘Il girotondo’, ‘Speranze deluse’.

Studio-Museo Pellizza da Volpedo
In 1888 Pellizza da Volpedo decided to transform a rustic house into a study.
The skylight he personally designed, granted the necessary light to his works, some of whom of big dimensions, all realized with the technique of colours scanning. After the assignment of property of the Study to the town of Volpedo by the painter’s daughter in 1966, some preservation and embellishment works were carried out. The first exhibition dedicated to Pelizza da Volpedo’s works was organized in 1974 by Aurora Scotti.
Starting from the nineties, with the launch of the project called ‘Progetto Pellizza 1990-1995’, the Study passed through a new and final dressing before reopening to visitors.

The Educational Museum is dedicated to the life and works of Pellizza and is to be found in the Torraglio building, sited in one of the oldest part of the town. Particular attention has been paid to the theme of the ‘construction’ of art, especially through the examples of ‘Processione’ and ‘Quarto Stato’, whose long creation is given ample space.

The Museum of the Artist’s Studio next to the painter’s home authentically re-creates the fascinating atmosphere of the atelier designed by Pellizza himself in 1888 and subsequently enlarged in 1896, until it assumed its current aspect with ample light which allows the room to have the same light as the exhibition room.
Inside there are numerous items of furniture from the original studio, including a bookcase with material from the artist’s extensive library, coloured sketches and plaster models.

n. inhabitants: 1215

geographical zone: north-west of Italy, Comunità collinare dei colli Tortonesi

altitude m: 182 above sea level

distance from: Alessandria km. 31