Welcoming and elegant, with an intimate and friendly atmosphere, Casale Monferrato, the capital of the Monferrato area, is a town of ideal size—pleasant to live in, an excellent base for exploring the region, and perfect to visit on foot, without haste.
The history of Casale Monferrato inevitably mirrors that of the territory it has represented for over a thousand years as its main center, and it is worth exploring closely, as its buildings bear witness to its events and leading figures.
Its origins date back to Roman times, and even earlier, in the Gallo-Celtic and Ligurian periods, it was known as Vardagate.
The current name refers to farmhouses gathered in a small cluster—in this case, agricultural ones—the nucleus of what would later become a prosperous and politically significant town.
Its origins date back to Roman times, and even earlier, in the Gallo-Celtic and Ligurian periods, it was known as Vardagate.
The current name refers to farmhouses gathered in a small cluster—in this case, agricultural ones—the nucleus of what would later become a prosperous and politically significant town.
In 988, the name Casale di Sant’Evasio appeared for the first time in a document, in honor of the bishop of Asti who Christianized the village in the 4th century. The accounts surrounding the saint are fragmentary and the dates often contradictory, but documents confirm his martyrdom on December 1, 362, during the Christian persecutions of Emperor Julian, the last openly pagan ruler of Rome. The site of his death is where the cathedral dedicated to him still stands today.
A few years before the year 1000, the Aleramici dynasty rose to power in Monferrato, ruling for three centuries marked by wars, political intrigue, and epic battles. Casale, under Guglielmo VII of the Aleramici—mentioned by Dante in Purgatorio, Canto VII—was destroyed in 1215 by a league formed by Vercelli, Alessandria, and Milan, but it soon rose again. In 1306, the Aleramici line died out and Monferrato passed to the Paleologi dynasty of Byzantium.
Under this family, the city became the most important in the region. Between 1464 and 1483, under Guglielmo VIII, Casale and Monferrato reached their peak in strategic, political, and commercial importance. The city prospered and was officially granted city status. Palaces and churches were built, including that of San Domenico. Guglielmo expanded the Sanctuary of Crea and built the great castle.
He also obtained episcopal status for Casale and founded the Senate of Monferrato. A true patron of the arts, learning, science, and law, in 1480 he oversaw the publication of one of the first books ever printed in Italy.
The Paleologi family ruled until 1533, the year that marked the advent of the Gonzaga family and a long, dark period in the history of Casale and its lands, defined by sieges, battles, and wars between the Mantuan, Spanish, and French.
Casale endured many assaults thanks to its castle and its “unconquered” military citadel, of which only traces remain. Upon the death of Carlo Ferdinando, Duke of Mantua, Casale and Monferrato passed to the House of Savoy and were annexed to its domains, losing their independence after 746 years.
The following years were turbulent: Casale, Monferrato, and Piedmont saw the presence of Napoleon, witnessed the Battle of Marengo, and took part in the wars of independence, as French and Austrian forces threatened the region and the fate of the entire peninsula. The city also experienced both world wars firsthand, as memorials and plaques still testify.
The Castle of Casale, also known as the Paleologi Castle, greets visitors with a large parking area and provides convenient access to the city. Construction began in 1352 at the behest of Giovanni II Paleologo. Initially designed as a purely defensive fortress near the Po River, it was completed five years later. When Casale became the capital of the marquisate, the fortress was gradually transformed: its interiors were refined and adapted for courtly life. In 1474, after the city obtained its title, a second courtyard was added. However, with the arrival of the Gonzaga in 1559, the winds of war returned. The castle was heavily modified, with new outer walls and the addition of the so-called rivellini—autonomous outworks built on each side outside the main fortress. It once again became an efficient military bastion, featuring a distinctive hexagonal plan surrounded by a deep moat.
No further changes were made until the mid-1800s, when modernization projects reshaped the urban landscape, isolating the castle from the city center and converting it into barracks—a role it maintained until the 1970s.
Renovation work began in 2000, and although much remains to be done, most of the castle is now open to visitors and hosts major trade fairs and art exhibitions. Its courtyards provide the setting for food and wine events such as Golosaria, the Wine Festival, and the White Truffle Fair. The fortress also houses a public library, the local tourist office, and the Enoteca Regionale del Monferrato.
The upper sections of the ancient walls and towers are visible, as are underground passages to the west. Rebuilt in 1770, they run beneath the foundations along the defensive moat.
Next to the castle stands the Mercato Pavia, the former cattle market built thanks to a 100,000-lira donation from Giuseppe Pavia, a Jewish politician later deported during the war. Housed in an Art Nouveau building, the market hosts a lively and much-loved antiques fair every second Sunday of the month, featuring more than 300 exhibitors.
Following the avenue lined with shops and historic stores that leads from the castle to the city center, one encounters the ancient Civic Tower of Santo Stefano, built around the year 1000 and rising 60 meters high. Climbing its 176 steps rewards visitors with a panoramic view of the city and the Alps, which seem close enough to touch on clear winter days. Built entirely of brick, the tower has suffered various damages over the centuries, being struck by lightning twice—in 1380 and again, more violently, in 1508. Its current appearance is due to 16th-century renovations commissioned by the Paleologi, who added the loggia, and to the final restoration carried out in 1920. The square lower section is of exposed brick, while the upper part is lighter in tone, adorned with columns, capitals, and faux-marble decorations. Two bells were added in 1510, and the first clock—now displayed at the tower’s entrance—was probably installed in 1920 and later replaced by a modern electronic mechanism.
The Cathedral of Sant’Evasio, or Duomo, is the city’s oldest monument and one of the best-preserved examples of Lombard Romanesque architecture. The site was originally occupied by a temple dedicated to Jupiter, likely dating to the 1st century AD. Its sacred nature is evident: a succession of religious buildings stood here over time, including one founded by the saint himself and dedicated to San Lorenzo, followed by an 8th-century church commissioned by the Lombard king Liutprand, and finally the Romanesque cathedral consecrated in 1107 by Pope Paschal II. Elevated to cathedral status in 1474, it was damaged during the 1215 siege that destroyed Casale and was subsequently rebuilt several times, with later Baroque additions.
In the mid-1800s, structural damage prompted a proposed reconstruction by Alessandro Antonelli, architect of Turin’s Mole Antonelliana. Fortunately, his plan to demolish and rebuild a modern cathedral was rejected, and the church was restored instead.
Today, visitors can admire its slightly asymmetrical façade and twin bell towers—collapsed in 1218, then rebuilt and later joined by a third.
The interior has five naves supported by tall columns, rich in architectural and artistic details that would require pages to describe. Of note is the narthex, a spacious atrium between the façade and the naves, with ancient columns, arches, and capitals. Unique in Italian Romanesque architecture, this feature—typical of Byzantine and early Christian basilicas—was used to welcome penitents and resembles similar spaces in Spanish mosques.
Other highlights include a 12th-century wooden Romanesque crucifix and the original mosaic flooring, visible in the so-called “open sacristy” or Duomo Museum, which also displays goldsmith’s work, textiles, and valuable liturgical furnishings.
Visitors can also follow a fascinating route through the cathedral’s attics, above the vaults, along walkways that reveal remarkable details and perspectives of the structure.
In Casale Monferrato, it is a pleasure to stroll under the porticoes, linger before shop windows, and gaze curiously at the monumental façades of richly decorated historic buildings.
Among them are the Town Hall, or Palazzo San Giorgio (1775), finely decorated inside and out with courtyards, staircases, and frescoes, and Palazzo Magnocavalli (1732), equally elegant and refined. The Palazzo Gozzani Treville is perhaps the most distinctive and spectacular 18th-century building in Casale, with a slightly concave façade that seems to invite visitors in. Its courtyard is splendid, and its Rococo interiors—rich in stucco—achieve an unexpected harmony despite their exuberance. Since 1827, the building has housed the Philharmonic Academy and a prestigious restaurant, and it serves as a venue for exhibitions, concerts, and conferences—much loved by the citizens of Casale.
Of great historical and architectural interest is the Palace of Anna d’Alençon, wife of Guglielmo IX Paleologo, built between the late 1400s and early 1500s. Thanks to recent restoration, it remains remarkably intact. Anna d’Alençon was an extraordinary figure: after her husband’s death, she ruled Monferrato for twelve years—a remarkable feat for her time.
The palace is now a private residence, but visitors can often enter through the main gate to glimpse the courtyard and its hortus conclusus, a secluded garden symbolizing purity and reflection. As journalist Pier Carlo Guglielmero observed, “in medieval garden poetry, it was believed that within an enclosed, inaccessible space, nature regained the original purity of creation.”
The cloister, with its slender columns and sober capitals, frames frescoed walls and a coffered portico.
Inside, frescoes depict portraits and coats of arms of the Paleologi family.
An important institution in the city is the Municipal Theater: it has a long history that began in 1600 and continued for centuries. The theater underwent various substantial modifications and reconstructions, some of them radical, such as those in 1703 and then in 1780, and was inaugurated eleven years later. Its history was also troubled because it underwent long closures, often due to management difficulties, the longest of which lasted a full 100 years. The late Baroque style is adorned with stucco, wooden decorations, white Carrara marble, 16th-century scagliola bas-reliefs, and impressive gilded paintings, an almost exaggerated richness typical of the following Rococo style. The interior is truly surprising, with numerous inscriptions in Hebrew recounting historical events of particular importance, whose splendid calligraphy is itself a decorative element.
The synagogue houses two interesting museums: the first is called the Museum of Lights and collects traditional seven-branched Jewish lamps plus one called Chanukkià. The second is the museum of Jewish art and history, also known as the Museum of Silver. The rooms of the former convent of Santa Croce, which preserves its frescoed cloister, house the Civic Museum with its art gallery, divided into 18 rooms covering a period from 1300 to the end of the 1800s, and the plaster cast gallery dedicated to Leonardo Bistolfi.
This is a rich collection that recounts the artistic evolution and working process that the sculptor followed in the creation of his monumental works. Bistolfi, born in Casale in 1859, was famous above all for his funerary and public monuments, producing a truly prolific body of work, but he was also a respected politician and senator of the Kingdom.
Of the numerous churches in Casale, we would like to mention the Church of San Domenico, commissioned by Marquis Guglielmo VIII Paleologo in 1469 and consecrated in 1513. The architectural style is not uniform but reflects the particular historical period that saw the transition from Gothic to Renaissance, probably from 1861 onwards. The theater, which became the property of the city of Casale, now appears as a beautiful Empire-style building with an internal structure of five boxes decorated with stucco, frescoes, and velvet. It was finally inaugurated in 1990 with a performance by Vittorio Gassman.
Today, this place is a real institution for the people of Casale, hosting important artistic and theatrical seasons and cultural events.
We said that the city tells its story, and another important testimony is provided by the Jewish Synagogue, where the story begins in 1595. It was built in the center of the ghetto after Guglielmo Gonzaga allowed the Jewish community to freely profess their religion in 1570. Extensions and improvements were made in two successive phases, at the beginning of the 1700s and at the end of the same century, to accommodate an ever-increasing number of worshippers. The final extension was made in 1853 following Jewish emancipation, which at that time had affected many European countries and provided for the formal recognition of citizenship and the granting of civil rights as equal citizens.
The gradual decline of the Jewish population led to a period of neglect of the entire structure, which was only completely restored to its original splendor in 1968. And we are indeed talking about splendor because, despite its completely anonymous and simple exterior, the interior of the synagogue was built in Renaissance style. Built in brick with a terracotta façade and topped by a 40-meter-high bell tower, the three-nave church has undergone several modifications and restorations over the years, which have brought it to the present day. The interior is monumental, rich in both sculptural and pictorial works of art, which would require a careful visit, dedicating the necessary time to appreciate the hundreds of details that adorn and embellish it.
It must be said that Casale Monferrato is best discovered on foot, without a set itinerary—guided by curiosity and perhaps by scents, like the sweet aroma that fills the streets around the pastry shop where the famous Krumiri Rossi biscuits are made.
A final suggestion is to visit the Seminary Library. Founded in 1738, it has occupied its current location inside the Seminary since 1838. With its wooden furnishings, bookcases, and frescoed ceilings, it is a place of great charm and historical interest. The library holds a collection of 65,000 volumes, of which 30,000 are ancient and available for consultation upon request. Among these are 400 rare editions, 120 manuscripts on paper and parchment, 300 books printed in the 1500s, and 160 precious incunabula.
