Italy - Citadel of Alessandria

The fortress is located North-West of the city of Alessandria, from which it is separated by the river Tamaro. It is the lowest zone of the piedmont region, about 90 metres above sea-level; this region was named ‘Mesopotamia' by humanists and destined to be always a borderland. It served as a fortress in the Late Middle Ages, especially through the XVIIIth - XXth centuries, between the Savoy state, Republic of Genoa and State of Milan. The Citadel was built in the ex-district of Borgoglio, after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, when Alessandria passed from the dominion of Spain to the one of the House of Savoy. On that occasion, the fortress was entirely rebuilt to the detriment of the ancient district, causing complete town-planning revolution to Alessandria, in order to satisfy defence needs of the new Savoy state. The players of that re-construction were king Vittorio Amedeo IInd and engineer Ignazio Bertola: the property is a huge fortress that spreads over 20 hectares and is in the shape of an elliptical hexagon, whose longer side (1 : 1,235) is parallel to the axis of the river. Its hexagonal shape is due to the need of defending the long borderline. The Citadel is a perfect example of modern-type fortress and consists of six bastions called by the names of the patron saints and was surrounded by moats to be flooded by the river's water.