Ivrea
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Ivrea is a town and commune of the province of Turin in the Piemonte region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley, it straddles the Dora Baltea. Ivrea lies in a basin that, in prehistoric times, formed a great lake. Today a number of smaller lakes—Sirio, San Michele, etc.—dot the area around the town.
During the 20th century its primary claim to fame was as the base of operations for Olivetti, a once well-known manufacturer of typewriters, mechanical calculators and, later, computers. The company no longer has an independent existence, though its name still appears as a registered trademark on office equipment manufactured by others.
History
The town first appears in history as a cavalry station of the army of the Roman Empire, founded in 100 BC and set to guard one of the traditional invasion routes into northern Italy over the Alps. The Latin name of the town, Eporedia, (meaning: "place to change horses") has long since vanished into the mists of time, but still appears as the root of the name of the town residents, who are known as "eporediesi" in Italian and as "Eporedians" in English.After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ivrea became seat of a duchy under the Lombards (6th-8th centuries). Alessandro Manzoni in his Adelchi, names one duke Guinigi of Ivrea, chosen by king Desiderius as defender of Pavia. Under the Franks (9th century), Ivrea was a county capital. In the year 1001, after a period of disputes with bishop Warmund, ruler of the city, Arduin conquered Ivrea. Later he became King of Italy and set a dynasty that lasted until the 11th century, when the city switched again to the bishops' suzerainty.
The following century Ivrea became a free commune, but succumbed in the first decades of the 13th century. In 1238 Emperor Frederick II put it under his domains. Later Ivrea was disputed between the bishops, the marquis of Monferrato and the House of Savoy. In 1356 Ivrea was acquired by Amadeus VI of Savoy. With the exception of the brief French conquest at the end of the 16th century, Ivrea remained under Savoy until 1800: on May 26 of that year Napoleon Bonaparte entered the city along with his victorious troops, setting a rule ended in 1814 after his fall.
Main sights
- The Castle was built in bricks (1357) by Amadeus VI of Savoy, it has a quadrangular plan with four round towers at the vertexes. One of the tower, used as ammunition stores, was struck by a lightning in 1676 and exploded. It was never rebuilt. Once a prison, the castle is today a seat of exhibitions.
- The Cathedral was probably built in the 4th century AD over a Pagan temple. It was reconstructed around 1000 AD by bishop Warmondus in Romanesque style: of that edifice the two bell towers, some columns and the elegant fresco-ed crypt remain. The latter houses an ancient Roman sarcophagus which, according to the tradition, preserved the spoils of St. Bessus (co-patron of the city together with St. Savinus). A substantially new edifice, in Baroque style, was built in 1785. The current neo-classical façade is from the 19th century. The main artpiece of the interior is the Miraculous Resurrection of a Child (second half of 15th century), attributed to Nicolas Robert. The sacristy has two pales by Defendente Ferrari. The cathedral is also seat of the tomb of Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy.
- The Biblioteca Capitolare ("Capitular Library"), not far from the Cathedral, houses an important collection of codexes from 7th-15th centuries.
- The small Gothic church of San Bernardino was built by the Minorites starting from 1455. It houses a notable cycle portraying the Life and Passion of Christ by Giovanni Martino Spanzotti (1480-1490).
Culture
Ivrea is today best known for its peculiar traditional carnival, whose core celebration is based on a locally famous "battle of the oranges". This involves some thousands of townspeople, divided into combat teams, who throw oranges at each other - with considerable violence - in rather disorganized battles lasting over several days.
One of the citizens is elected Mugnaia. The legend has that a miller's daughter (a "Mugnaia") once refused to accept the "right" of the local duke to spend a night with each newly wed woman and chopped his head off. Today the carriages represent the duke's guard and the orange throwers the revolutionaries. Spectators are not allowed to throw oranges. If they wear a red hat they are not considered part of the revolutionaries and will not have oranges thrown at them.
Before oranges were thrown they used some kind of fruit or beans. Later oranges came to represent the duke's chopped off head. The origin of the tradition to throw oranges is not well understood, particularly as oranges do not grow in the foothills of the Italian Alps and must be imported from the Sicily at considerable cost. In 1994 an estimate of 265.000 kilograms of oranges were brought to the city.
In 2000-05 Ivrea was visible on the design circuit as the seat of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea ([link]), located in the old Olivetti research building—the "Blue House" building. The school was moved to Milan in October 2005.
External links
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