Bassignana sits on a low rise where the Tanaro joins the Po, on the border with Lombardy, and the forty-fifth parallel crosses the village. The name comes from the gens Bassinia, the Roman family granted the territory. Until a few decades ago the Tanaro was crossed by ferry: the bridge came in 1961, and in the channels of the Po some still look for the gold flakes said to be there.
Its border position cost it many battles: on 27 September 1745, in the War of the Austrian Succession, the French-Spanish army beat the Austro-Piedmontese here. Ruins remain of the Sforza castle, perhaps built over older defences. The Romanesque pieve of San Giovanni Battista stands in the cemetery, with Byzantine frescoes in the apse.
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📅 Every year, on the Sunday after 16 July (Madonna del Carmine)
On the Sunday after 16 July Bassignana, a municipality of 1,742 inhabitants in the province of Alessandria, celebrates the patronal feast of the Madonna del Carmine (Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Bassignana, but an easy day trip away.
