Ivrea

This article is about the town. For the publisher, see Editorial Ivrea.

Ivrea
—  Comune  —
Città di Ivrea
Panorama of Ivrea
Coat of arms
Ivrea Location of Ivrea in Italy
Coordinates: 45°28′N 07°53′E
Country	Italy
Region	Piedmont
Province	Turin (TO)
Frazioni	Torre Balfredo
Government
• Mayor	Carlo Della Pepa  Elected: April 28, 2008  Party: centre-left
Area
• Total	30.19 km2 (11.66 sq mi)
Elevation	253 m (830 ft)
Population (30 April 2009)
• Total	24,338
• Density	Bad rounding here810/km2 (Bad rounding here2,100/sq mi)
Demonym	Eporediesi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	10015
Dialing code	0125
Patron saint	Saint Sabinus
Saint day	July 7
Website	Official website

Ivrea (Latin: Eporedia) is a town and comune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it straddles the Dora Baltea and is regarded as the centre of the Canavese area. Ivrea lies in a basin that in prehistoric times formed a great lake. Today a number of five smaller lakes — Sirio, San Michele, Pistono, Nero and Campagna — are found in the area around the town.

History

Ivrea and its surroundings have been inhabited since the Neolithic era and the Celts are believed to have had a village in Ivrea since the 5th century BC. However the town first officially appears in history as an outpost of the Roman Empire founded in 100 BC and is believed to have been built to guard one of the traditional invasion routes into northern Italy over the Alps. Its Latin name was Eporedia.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ivrea became the seat of a duchy under the Lombards (6th-8th centuries). Alessandro Manzoni in his Adelchi he names 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 March of Ivrea. Later he became King of Italy and began a dynasty that lasted until the 11th century, when the city switched again to the bishops' sovereignty.

In the 12th century Ivrea became a free comune, but succumbed in the first decades of the 13th century to the rule of Emperor Frederick II in 1238. 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 – it was a subsidiary title of the king of Sardinia. The only Marquis of Ivrea was Benedetto of Savoy (who later fought in the French Revolutionary wars). On May 26, 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte entered the city along with his victorious troops, establishing control that ended in 1814 after his fall.

During the 20th century its primary claim to fame was as the base of operations for Olivetti, a renowned manufacturer of typewriters, mechanical calculators and, later, computers. The Olivetti company no longer has an independent existence, though its name still appears as a registered trademark on office equipment manufactured by others. In 1970 about 90,000 people (including commuters from Southern Italy) lived and worked in the Ivrea Area.^{[citation needed]}

The Arduino platform was created in Ivrea, and takes its name from the historical figure of Arduin of Italy.

Main sights

The castle (14th century)

The Cathedral of Ivrea

Unknown painter, second half of 15th century, A Miracle of the Blessed Pierre de Luxembourg (Cathedral)

1. Rocca or Castle (1357) was built during the reign of Amadeus VI of Savoy, constructed in a quadrangular plan in brick with four round towers at the vertexes. One of the towers, used as an ammunition store, was struck by lightning in 1676 and exploded. It was never rebuilt. Once a prison, the castle today houses exhibitions.
2. The Cathedral while a church here was built in 4th century at the site of a pagan temple. Around 1000 AD, it was reconstructed by Bishop Warmondus in Romanesque style: of that edifice the two bell towers, some columns, and the elegant frescoed crypt remain. The latter houses an ancient Roman sarcophagus which, according to tradition, preserves the relics of St. Bessus (co-patron of the city together with St. Sabinus). In 1785, it was rebuilt again in a Baroque style. The current neo-classical façade is from the 19th century. One of the old frescoes of the interior is the A Miracle of the Blessed Pierre de Luxembourg (second half of 15th century). The sacristy has two altarpieces by Defendente Ferrari. The cathedral also houses the tomb of Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy.
3. The Biblioteca Capitolare ("Capitular Library"), near the Cathedral, houses an important collection of codices from 7th-15th centuries.
4. The small Gothic church of San Bernardino was built by the Minorites starting from 1455. It houses a cycle portraying the Life and Passion of Christ by Giovanni Martino Spanzotti (1480–1490).
5. The Museum Pier Alessandro Garda has some interesting archaeological findings and a collection of Japanese art pieces. It is located on the large Piazza Ottinetti.
6. The Open Air Museum of Modern Architecture, inaugurated in 2001, is a show of the main edifices (some by leading architects of the time) built by Olivetti from the 1950s onwards.
7. The remains of a 1st-century Roman theatre can be seen west of the city centre. It could hold 10,000 spectators.
8. The Old Bridge (Ponte Vecchio) dates back to AD 100 and leads over to Borghetto. Originally constructed of wood, it was rebuilt in stone in 1716.
9. The Town Hall built in 1758 with a remarkable bell tower decorated with hemp plants, the symbol of Canavese.
10. St. Stephen Tower dates back to 11th century. This Romanesque bell tower is the remains of St. Stephen Abbey built in 1041 for the Benedictine order. It is located between Hotel La Serra and Dora Baltea.
11. In 2000–2005 Ivrea was visible on the design circuit as the seat of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, [1] located in the old Olivetti research building — the "Blue House" building. The school was moved to Milan in October 2005.

Culture

There are two main festivals in Ivrea, both celebrated during Catholic festivity but both rooted in more ancient city's traditions. One is the Carnival, its main celebrations take place 40 days before Easter. The other is the patronal festival of St. Savino (Sabinus of Spoleto), celebrated the week of July 7. During the latter festivity, a horse fair takes place with a carriage exhibition and horse shows.

During the rest of the year Ivrea's cultural life is never still thanks to other minor festivals as the Hispanic festival, the anthropology. festival, the Euro Jazz festival (March) and a festival on ancient trades (August–September). To complete the cultural panorama, there is a theatre, three cinemas and several other venues for occasional events. Also the kayak stadium, in the town centre, helps in increasing the cultural life of the town, hosting competitions of international relevance (as parts of the Word Cup).

Olivetti played a crucial role in developing a cultural life in the city. Indeed the company took particular attention to attract in town high-educated employees and intellectuals and financing many events (e.g. the kayak tradition began with Olivetti employees with this hobby). Sure enough, notwithstanding Ivrea still experiences Olivetti cultural heritage, the company's crisis has affected the quantity and quality of the events.

Battle of the Oranges

A scene from the "Battle of the Oranges"

Ivrea today is best known for its peculiar traditional carnival. The core celebration centres around the locally famous Battle of the Oranges. This involves some thousands of townspeople, divided into nine combat teams, who throw oranges at each other — with considerable violence — during the traditional carnival days: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The carnival takes place in February; it ends on the night of "Fat Tuesday" with a solemn funeral. Traditionally, at the end of the silent march that closes the carnival the "General" says goodbye to everyone with the traditional phrase "See you next Fat Thursday at 1 p.m."

One of the citizens is elected Mugnaia. The legend has that a miller's daughter (the eponymous "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, but visitors are allowed to enlist in the teams. If they wear a red hat they are considered part of the revolutionaries and will not have oranges thrown at them.

Before oranges were thrown they used apples. 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 Sicily. In 1994 an estimate of 265,000 kilograms (580,000 lb) of oranges were brought to the city, mainly coming from the leftovers of the winter crop in southern Italy.

Sport

The town's football club, A.S.D. Montalto Ivrea, currently plays in Promozione Piemonte.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy

Twin towns – Sister cities

Ivrea is twinned with:

• Rădăuți, Romania
• Monthey, Switzerland
• [Lüneburg[]], Germany

External links

• Comune website
• Carnival of Ivrea
• Official Website of Modern Architecture of Ivrea
• Pictures of Ivrea
• Pictures of the Carnival and the Battle of the oranges
• U.N.I.T.A.L.S.I. Ivrea