Attractions and Places To See around Francavilla Bisio - Top 20

This church, which is dedicated to the Holy Cross (Latin: "Santa Croce"), derives its patronage from the cross on which Jesus Christ died. The veneration of the Holy Cross goes back in large part to Saint Helena, who was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great (who recognized Christianity as a religion after his victory at the "Milvian Bridge" in front of Rome and ended the long period of persecution with the "Edict of Toleration" of Milan in 312). In the early fourth century, she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Israel / Palestine) and brought numerous relics back to Europe, including the "True Cross" on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Helena is therefore often depicted with a cross as an attribute. The church celebrates the feast of the discovery, public presentation and veneration of the Holy Cross - called the "Exaltation of the Cross" - on September 14th.

The castle built on a 13th century fortification - is accessed via a steep climb starting from the small square where the ancient municipal building with loggia stood. Enfeoffed to the Doria family between the 14th and 16th centuries, the castle saw the succession of many families: Da Passano, Pallavicino, Serra, Spinola and Orsini Pio di Savoia. The guise in which it appears today dates back to the 18th century, when it was adapted by the Serra family into an elegant country residence. The castle, owned by the Doria family of Montaldeo since the beginning of the 19th century, has a complex structure in which the original structures survive, vestiges of previous use: the apparatus protruding on double brackets, the battlements and the configuration of the keep. One of the towers, which became an artist's studio in the last century and overlooks the surrounding landscape with large windows, offers a priceless view that sweeps over the Alpine chain, from Monviso to Monte Rosa, and over the Apennines, up to the Piacenza mountains

15066 Gavi AL

To the north of the town, on the borders between Lerma, Silvano and Castelletto d'Orba, remain the ruins of the Torre dell'Albarola. It was part of a defensive sighting system created against Saracen incursions around the year one thousand. His task was to record the signals coming from Mount Colma and, with bonfires lit on the summit, warn the nearby Gazzolo tower (S. Cristoforo), which would send the alarm to the plain. Whoever climbs the tower immediately realizes the reason for that location: from up there the view extends from the Piota valley to the entire Apennine range, and then further down towards the hills up to the Po Valley. Tradition has it that it later served as a bell tower for Santa Maria in Prelio, that is, for the parish church of Silvano d'Orba, as it is located on a hill to the east of it. Towards the end of the 17th century, the Abbey of San Filippo Neri was built near Albarola, from which the name of today's Abbazia farmhouse derives

The imposing building, which retains a structure with corner towers, has richly furnished interiors and interesting collections of ancient weapons. Even the foundations, built with abundance, enclose labyrinthine underground passages that lead to the prisons. The building is known in the area for the legendary presence of a ghost and as a place which, way back in 1528, saw the killing of the despotic Alessandrian feudal lord Cristoforo Trotti and his family.

The monumental complex of Santa Croce and All Saints, wanted and founded by Saint Pius V, is located in Bosco Marengo near Alessandria.

inside the church of S.Giacomo many important works including this one: GANDOLFINO DA RORETO 1515_1520 MADONNA WITH CHILD, ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST. JAMES THE MAJOR in the lunette: ADORATION OF THE CHILD

The Last Judgement by Giorgio Vasari, one of the most important works of the entire complex commissioned by Pope Pius V in the 16th century