Alessandrina Plain

The Piana Alessandrina area is prevalently flat, furrowed by the Tanaro and Bormida Rivers up to the confluence in the Po, and covers the urban area of at least three important cities (Alessandria, Valenza and Novi Ligure) besides the other historically consolidated centres (Castellazzo Bormida, Bosco Marengo, and Pozzolo Formigaro).

From the environmental viewpoint, the area can be divided into four different sections: the fluvial network with the alluvial plain of the Po and Tanaro Rivers with the Orba-Bormida confluences; the ancient terraces of Valenza, Bassignana and Frugarolo-Bosco Marengo, the Fraschetta Plain, and the eastern hills of Monferrato.

The farm area extends for a long stretch along the alluvial plain of the Tanaro River and exhibits a uniform landscape mostly of intensive cereal-corn farmlands with excellent production yields, thanks to fertile soils that are deep and well-supplied with water. In the extreme east, between the two towns of Valenza and Pecetto, there is a varied rural landscape with a dominant feature of the rotational farming of cereals, wheat and corn, in grasslands or meadows. On the hillsides, the soil is used for multi-crop cultivation and meadows, alternating with traditional viticulture.

The towns are closely bound to the Roman and upper medieval road systems extending toward the railway lines. The city of Alessandria of the Villanovan culture founded in the early middle ages, practices settlement structures with orthogonal meshes that were from the start, the hub of various radial routes going towards Novi, Asti, Lomellina and Monferrato, with the latter three connected to the bridge over the Tanaro River. This central role was maintained even in modern times as a military stopover, and also currently, with the construction of the railway network and an important commercial port of call.

Privileged points of observation identified in the PAYS.DOC “ Good practices for the landscape” created by a virtual observatory of the Mediterranean landscape.