Aleramo’s dream

Vignale Monferrato

 

 

The name Vignale already appeared in documents prior to the year 1000, but the district went under the control of the Marquises of Monferrato, who took it from Asti’s control, where the Callori family, the protagonists of the history of the village, came from. The residential area is dominated by the ancient medieval castle, of which some remains are conserved at the base of the building, and by the funeral chapel of the counts of Callori. The feudatories of the place resided in the eighteenth-century palace, which was still the property of the Callori family until its purchase in 1974 by the Piedmont Region and eventually they transformed it into the seat of the Monferrato Enoteca Regionale after restoration. There are two important churches : the older one is dedicated to Beata Vergine Addolorata, known as the “church of the convent”, with its impressive brick-made Romanesque façade, and the eighteenth-century church of San Bartolomeo, designed by Agostino Vitoli, and from whose square you can enjoy the wonderful view of Monferrato hills with the Alps in the background. In May 2014 the artist Gianni Colonna permanently placed a series of reproductions of his pictures on public and private buildings of the village that give form to an original and evocative artistic route entitled “Day Night”.