Pieve Vergonte

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Pieve Vergonte
Comune
Pieve Vergonte
Coat of arms
show Location of Pieve Vergonte Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Pieve Vergonte Location of Pieve Vergonte in Italy Pieve Vergonte Pieve Vergonte (Piedmont) Show map of ItalyShow map of PiedmontShow all
Coordinates: 46°00′16″N 8°16′06″E / 46.0045402°N 8.268456°E / 46.0045402; 8.268456Coordinates: 46°00′16″N 8°16′06″E / 46.0045402°N 8.268456°E / 46.0045402; 8.268456
Country	Italy
Region	Piedmont
Province	Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (VB)
Frazioni	Fomarco, Rumianca, Megolo Cima, Megolo Mezzo, Megolo Fondo[1]
Government
• Mayor	Maria Grazia Medali[2]
Area [1]
• Total	41.67 km2 (16.09 sq mi)
Elevation [1]	232 m (761 ft)
Population  (31 December 2015)[1]
• Total	2,593
• Density	62/km2 (160/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Pievesi[1]
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	28886
Dialing code	0324
Patron saint	St. Vincent and St. Atanasius[1]
Saint day	22 January[1]
Website	Official website

Pieve Vergonte is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Verbania and 110 kilometres (68 mi) northeast of Turin.

Geography[]

Pieve Vergonte lies in the valley of Ossola where the Anza river flows into the Toce. It is bordered, west to east, by the municipalities of Piedimulera, Vogogna, Premosello-Chiovenda, and Anzola d'Ossola.^[5] It is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Verbania and 110 kilometres (68 mi) northeast of Turin.

The town is served by  [it].^[6] 20th century to today

History[]

18th century[]

After the Spanish Succession War (1701-1714) ended with the Peace of Utrecht (1713) and specifically the peace Treaty of Rastatt (1714), the Philip V of Spain was forced to cede the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the State of the Presidi and much of the Duchy of Milan to the emperor Charles VI. The Ossola and with it Pieve Vergonte followed the political destiny of the Duchy of Milan, coming under Austrian administration.

The Duchy of Savoy, led by Duke Vittorio Amedeo II acquired the Kingdom of Sicily and exchanged in 1720 for the Kingdom of Sardinia and part of the Duchy of Milan. Vittorio Amedeo II concluded his political goal of transforming his title from Duke to King.

Following the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the related Treaty of Worms (1743) and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) which ended the conflict, the Kingdom of Sardinia acquired Ossola, including Pieve Vergonte. The King of England, the Queen of Bohemia and Hungary, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and the King of Sardinia signed a military alliance on the English initiative transferring territories under Austrian control to the Kingdom of Sardinia, moving the border to Lake Maggiore and along the Ticino river until it enters the river Po. After 29 years of Austrian rule, Pieve Vergonte came under the administration of the House of Savoy, and shared its destiny until its fall.

In the year 1775 King Vittorio Amedeo III, approved, with Patente June 6, 1775, the new Regulation for municipal administrations. The community of Vogogna was considered too extensive, so the ancient municipality of Vogogna, originally consisting of ten lands, was divided into six distinct and separate municipalities: Vogogna con Prata; Pallanzeno; Piedimulera; Cimamulera; Fomarco; Rumianca with the hamlets of Megolo, Loro and Pieve Vergonte.

19th century[]

In 1800 Napoleon descended into Italy and with a proclamation of October 15, he reorganized the upper and lower Novara area in the Agogna department. With the law of 2 November 1800, Ossola came to depend administratively on the Compartment of Agogna, subdivided into 17 districts. Vogogna, declared capital of the 14th District, still preserved its ancient jurisdiction over the lower Ossola and the Valle Anzasca [it], with 26 municipalities including Fomarco.

The decree of 8 June 1805 on Public Administration and the territorial compartment of the Kingdom of Italy, whose capital was Milan, divided the Kingdom into departments, districts, cantons and municipalities. Pieve Vergonte, part of the Municipality of Rumianca, together with the municipalities of Pallanzeno, Piedimulera, Cimamulera, Anzino, Valle Anzasca, Fomarco, Anzola, Migiandone, Ornavasso, Mergozzo, Cuzzago and Premosello, was part of the Canton of Vogogna.

In the year 1847 Pieve Vergonte was still part of Rumianca to which the hamlets of Megolo and Loro also belonged.

In the year 1847, it is still written about Rumianca that:

... the little plain susceptible of cultivation is devastated by the torrents Marmazza, Anza and Inferno, which descend precipitously/rapidly from the mountains above, and flow into the Toce river

in their high waters they bring much damage to the countryside, they threaten the ruin of the countries through which they pass and it is able to greatly aggravate this commune by holding back the impetus by means of suitable banks.

A chain of mountains lies behind the places of which the Municipality is composed: on the backs of the same many many chestnut woods and in many sites there are also many tall trees, there are no pastures to feed numerous cattle. The territory produces rye, meliga, millet, chestnuts and grapes in fair quantities, the products of bovine animals and lanute is very considerable. [without source]

In the year 1861, with the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, Ossola and with it Pieve Vergonte passed under the administration of the Province of Novara.

20th century to present[]

Pieve Vergonte in 1982

In the year 1928 the Municipality of Fomarco and the Municipality of Rumianca were definitively abolished and reunited in a single municipality with the name "Pieve Vergonte", and a population of 1,916 inhabitants. The suppressed municipalities are abandoned.

During the Second World War the mountain territories around Pieve Vergonte, like those of the whole Val d'Ossola, saw significant levels of partisan activity, in particular the unit of commander  [it], one of the first in the area between  [it] and Ossola, which at the end of January 1943 had put its temporary base in Pievese territory, in Cortavolo, just above the hamlet of Megolo Mezzo. On February 13 1944 this area was the scene of the battle of Megolo, between Beltrami's partisans and the Nazi-fascist troops of the German army and of the Italian Social Republic, coming from Domodossola and Novara under the command of Captain Ernst Simon.

During the day, between the clash and the shooting, commander Beltrami, political commissar Gianni Citterio, deputy commander Antonio Di Dio and nine other partisans fell: Carlo Antibo, Giovanni Bressani Bassano, Aldo Carletti, Angelo Clavena, Bartolomeo Creola, Emilio (or Cornelio) Gorla, Paolo Marino, Gaspare Pajetta and Elio Toninelli.^[7] The rest of the group managed to retreat to the mountains.

The war on April 25, 1945. On May 9, 1945, with the war terminated, eleven people were assassinated by the partisan forces, in Pieve Vergonte,:

• Canapa, Angelo Francesco (b. Carrara 18.10.1925)
• Conti, Angelo (b. Rome 11.1.1893)
• Di Giovanni, Carlo (b. Rome 9.25.1894)
• France, Michele (b. Velletri 3.9.1900),
• Micale, Salvatore (b. Taviano 2.12.1919)
• Dino, De Deo Giuseppe (b. Civitavecchia 16.12.1910)
• Perlini, Vittorio (b. Frosinone 1.1.1902)
• Princigalli, Giovanni
• Tesoro, Alfredo (b. Terlizzi 14.10.1927) and his brother Tesoro, Giuseppe (b. Terlizzi 24.8.1925).

A civilian was also shot: Serafini, Amelia (b. Macerata 29.6.1901).^[8] These soldiers belonged to the Ministerial Black Brigades,^[9] a unit taken to the Val d'Ossola after the re-occupation of the Partisan Republic territory in October 1944.

The Ministerial Black Brigades were founded following the fall of Rome in 1944 by Benito Mussolini and Alessandro Pavolini,^[10] Secretary of the Republican Fascist Party, who the party and transformed the provincial units into the Black Brigades.^[11] On 27 August 1944, the Chief of Staff of the Black Brigades, Giovanni Battista Riggio, circulated a circular addressed to state and ministerial employees in which he hoped for their voluntary registration in the brigades.^[12] Pavolini, in turn, announces on September 17, 1944, the establishment of special ministerial departments, thus creating the Black Autonomous Ministerial Brigade, based in Brescia (704 Post Office) and which obtains the greatest success among the officials of the Ministries of Finance and of the Popular Culture^[12]

After the end of the war on April 25, 1945, the partisans shot three civilians in Pieve Vergonte: Mr. Casella and Signora Calvi, inhabitants of Pieve Vergonte, and Mr. Bettineschi of Fomarco. Mr Casella and Mrs. Calvi were temporarily buried at Alpe Piana, in Val Toppa, above the village. Mr. Bettineschi was temporarily buried in a mine gallery at Alpe Fontano, in Val Toppa, above the village of Pieve Vergonte.^[13]

At the beginning of April 1945 a German chemist (anti-Nazi. was captured by the Partisan forces named Garibaldini of Megolo. He was responsible for the continuous delay in the production of a powerful aggressive chemical who was in charge of monitoring the progress at the chemical plant of Rumianca. On 10 April 1945 a Partisan commando was sent to Megolo with the task of escorting him to the Command for a prisoner exchange. He tried to escape and a partisan killed him. He was buried in great secrecy in a field, then, following the grievances of the owner, he was transferred, still in great secrecy, to the Cemetery. The partisan commander, Baron Alessandro Cavalchini (Sandro), of monarchical convictions, notified the family at the end of the war.^{[citation needed]}

In 1978 in Anzola the restoration of the Chapel of the Holy Cross began, a donated restoration, together with a crucifix and a tombstone with the donor's words, by Alessandro Cavalchini.^[14]

Main sights[]

.Church of Saint Vincenzo e Saint Anastasio.

The Borgaccio Roman wall, part of the river harbour ruins.

Gold mine in Val Toppa.

• Church of Pieve Vergonte
• Workers' village, designed by architect Paolo Vietti-Violi from Vogogna, is, along with the one of Villadossola, among the model villages for northern workers built during the years of Benito Mussolini's government (1922–1943).^[15]
• Chemical factory, with offices designed by Vietti-Violi
• The cinema, designed by Vietti-Violi^[16]
• The mill for grinding gold ore, of which only the tub remains, at the Park of the Fallen of the Great War
• Borgaccio Wall, near the river Toce, which demarcates Pieve Vergonte from the nearby village of Vogogna. It is the remains of a wall of the castle of Pietra Santa, which was destroyed on 9 February 1348, and it is commonly called the Borgaccio.

Economy[]

Industry[]

The industrial chemical plant of Pieve Vergonte was founded in 1915 on the initiative of the Italian Society of Explosive Products (PETS) based in Milan, with 2,500,000 lire of capital. The first product for the military was iodine monochloride of chlorobenzene and phosgene, used during the First World War and later in the African campaign.^{[clarification needed]}

During World War II, clorosoda, sulfuric acid, and fertilizers were produced. After the war, shutting down the production of sulphuric acid, Rumianca SpA, and then the SIR Group, developed new product lines for the production of DDT and chloroaromatics. These products were used by the United States of America during the Vietnam War.

In 1981, the facilities of this company were transferred to the ENI Group and the ANIC Company. The ANIC, then EniChem, DDT plants ran until June 1996, and remaining in production until their sale on 1 July 1997 to Tessenderlo, Italy. The clorosoda, chlorine and aromatic synthetic HCL are in production for the Tessenderlo Group.

In May 2013, Tessenderlo Group sold Tessenderlo Partecipazioni SpA, and its subsidiary Tessenderlo Italy Srl, to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG).^[17] The transaction includes the plant in Pieve Vergonte (VB), where there now are an active electrolysis plant, one for chloro-aromatics, and two hydroelectric plants that provide energy. Tessenderlo Italy employs a total of 113 people. Achim Riemann, Managing Director of ICIG, said: "The integration upstream of Tessenderlo Italy, with direct supply of energy through its hydroelectric plants, is vital for the competitiveness of the plant of Pieve Vergonte and so we want to maintain this integration and have both hydroelectric concessions renewed for the long term." The company trades under the name of hydrochemitalia.^[18]

Energy production[]

The village of Pieve Vergonte produces electricity from hydroelectric power. The largest producer is the Edison Company with plants in Val Anzasca and Pieve Vergonte, both fed by the waters of the river Anza, with a total average production of 95 GWh. The second-largest producer is Tessenderlo's Battiggio plant, ex-Rumianca of Ceppo Morelli in Val Anzasca, on the Toce river at Megolo, which has a total average production of 90 GWh.^{[citation needed]}

Natural resources and minerals[]

Along the creek Marmazza, above the village of Pieve Vergonte, in the Toppa Valley, mining is of great value. There are many pyrite minerals scattered throughout the Ossola valley, which can not be easily mined, and which are entirely neglected. Gold-bearing pyrites were first detected in the quarries of the Maffiola brothers in the valley.

The extraction of gold from the mines of the Toppa Valley was done with mercury, a process first developed by the Spaniard Pedro Fernandez de Velasco in the Americas and thence introduced to Europe by Baron De Born, where an amalgamation was obtained with of fire, and which was used in all the gold mines in Ossola.^[19]

The gold production of the Val Toppa mining company, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1863, valued in British pounds/shillings/pence:^[20]

• 1864 – Production 509 oz (14.43 kg) & .275 – £1798/18/9 (566,560 Euros in Jan 2017)
• 1865 – Production 574 oz (16.28 kg) & .575 – £2032/14/5 (638,911 Euros in Jan 2017)
• 1866 – Production 1400 oz (39.69 kg) & .925 – £4957/15/8 (1,558,320 Euros in Jan 2017)

with an average production of 1 ounce "oz" and 5 pennyweight "dwt" of gold per tonne of ore mined.

References[]

Sources[]

• De Bartolomeis, G. Luigi (1843). Notizie topografiche e statistiche sugli stati sardi: dedicate A.S.S.R.M Carlo Alberto [Topographical Data and Statistics on Sardinian States: dedicated to His Majesty Charles Albert] (in Italian). Turin: Chirio e Mina. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
• Casalis, Goffredo (1847). Dizionario geografico, storico, statistico, commerciale degli stati di S.M. il re di Sardegna [Geographical, historical, statistical, commercial dictionary of the states of H.M. the king of Sardinia] (in Italian). 16. Turin: Presso G. Maspero Librajo. p. 652. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
• Diacono, Paolo (1990). Pin, Italo (ed.). Storia dei Longobardi [History of the Lombards]. Biblioteca di storia (in Italian). Pordenone: Studio Tesi. ISBN 978-887692231-2. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
• Jenkinson, Charles (1785). A collection of all the treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce between Great Britain and other Powers, from the treaty signed at Munster in 1648 to the treaties signed at Paris in 1783. II – from 1713 to 1748. London, opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly: J. Debrett. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
• Labus, Giovanni (1842). Antica romana via del Sempione: nuovamente osservata e illustrata; con monumenti contemporanei [The Ancient Roman Road from Simplon: newly observed and illustrated; with contemporary monuments] (in Italian). Milan: I. R. Istituto lombardo. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
• Martin, Simon (2004). Football and Fascism: The National Game Under Mussolini. New York, USA: Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-185973705-7. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
• Robolini, Giuseppe (1826). Notizie appartenenti alla storia della sua patria: raccolte ed illustrate da Giuseppe Robolini, gentiluomo pavese [News belonging to the history of his homeland: collected and illustrated by Giuseppe Robolini, a gentleman from Pavia] (in Italian). II. Pavia: Fusi e Comp. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
• Rosina, Gaetano (1819). Osservazioni e richerche minearologiche-chimiche sopra alcune valli dell'ossola del chimico Gaetano Rosina: coll'aggiunta di un metodo economico per estrarre l'oro da una miniera di quei dintorni riputata finora incoltivabile [Observations and mineralological-chemical researches in some valleys of the Ossola by the chemist Gaetano Rosina: with an economic method for extracting gold from a mine whose surroundings have been rebuilt and is now unworkable] (in Italian). Milan: Giovanni Pirotta. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
• Soldani, Massimiliano (1999). L'ultimo poeta armato: Alessandro Pavolini segretario del Partito fascista repubblicano [The last armed poet: Alessandro Pavolini, secretary of the Republican Fascist Party]. Sinergie (in Italian). Milan: Barbarossa. OCLC 43082470. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
• Viganò, Marino (1991). Il Ministero degli Affari Esteri e le Relazioni Internazionali della Repubblica Sociale Italiana: 1943–1945 [The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations of the Italian Social Republic: 1943-1945] (in Italian). Milan: Jaca Book. ISBN 978-881695081-8. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
• De Vit, Vincenzo (1859). Memorie Storiche di Borgomanero e del suo mandamento compilate dal Sacerdote Vincenzo De Vit [Memories of Borgomanero and his mandate: compiled by Father Vincenzo De Vit] (in Italian). Milan: Ditta Boniardi Pogliani di Ermenegildo Besozzi. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
• Memorie del Reale istituto lombardo di scienze, lettere ed arti, Volume 1,- Milano – Tipografia Bernardoni – 1843

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