Synagogue of Casale Monferrato

Casale Monferrato (Italian pronunciation: [kaˈzaːle moɱferˈraːto]) is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about 60 km (37 mi) east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the vast plain of the Po valley. An ancient Roman municipium, the town has been the most important trade and manufacturing centre of the area for centuries. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Casale became a free municipality and, in the 15th and early 16th centuries, served as the capital of the House of Palaiologos. Then in 1536, the town passed to the Gonzagas who fortified it with a large citadel. In the 17th century, Casale was heavily involved in the War of the Mantuan Succession and besieged by French and Spanish troops. During the wars of Italian unification the town was a defensive bulwark against the Austrian Empire. In the 1900s Casale, in the middle of the Turin-Milan-Genoa industrial triangle, developed as an important industrial centre, especially known for the production of asbestos cement. A local Eternit factory has been at the centre of a massive environmental scandal, with subsequent high-profile litigation that often made international headlines.

The March (also margraviate or marquisate) of Montferrat was a frontier march of the Kingdom of Italy during the Middle Ages and a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The margraviate was raised to become the Duchy of Montferrat in 1574. Originally part of the March of Western Liguria (Marca Liguriae Occidentalis) established by King Berengar II about 950, the area of Montferrat was constituted as the marca Aleramica ("Aleramic march") for his son-in-law Aleramo. The earliest secure documentation of Aleramo and his immediate family is derived from the founding charter of the Abbey of Grazzano in 961, occasioned by the recent death of Aleramo's son Gugliemo. After King Otto I of Germany invaded Italy in 961 and displaced Berengar II, he continued, in a manner much like his predecessors to redefine the great fiefs of Italy. He continued the work that had been done to organize the northwest into three great marches. In the Eastern Liguria territory known as marca Obertenga, Otto returned Oberto Obizzo to his lands and appointed him the margrave of the newly created March of Genoa. In the Turin territory known as the marca Arduinica, Otto returned management to Arduin Glaber and then in 964 Otto appointed Arduin margrave of the newly created March of Turin. And finally in the Western Liguria territory known as marca Aleramica, Otto confirmed Aleramo's titles and position and then in 967 Otto appointed Aleramo margrave of the newly created March of Montferrat. Aleramo's descendants were relatively obscure until the time of Marquess Rainier in the early twelfth century. About 1133 Rainier's son Marquess William V married Judith of Babenberg, a half-sister of King Conrad III of Germany, and so greatly increased his family's prestige. He entered into the Italian policies of Conrad and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, setting a Ghibelline precedent for his successors, and with his sons became involved in the Crusades. Marquess Boniface I was the leader of the Fourth Crusade and established the Kingdom of Thessalonica in the Latin Empire of Greece. Reuniting Thessalonica, inherited by Boniface's Greek son Demetrius, with Montferrat became a goal of Boniface's Italian heirs, though nothing ever came of their endeavours. In the thirteenth century, Montferrat waffled between the Guelph and Ghibelline parties under Boniface II and William VII. It had to wage several long wars against the independence-minded communes of Asti and Alessandria and it became the standard-bearers of a renewed Lombard League forged to fight the spread of Angevin influence into northern Italy. The capital of Montferrat at this time was Chivasso, the centre of the margraves' power. In 1305, the last Aleramici margrave died and Montferrat was inherited by the Greek imperial Palaiologos dynasty, who held it until 1533, during a period of diminishing territoriality. In that year, Montferrat was seized by the Spanish under Emperor Charles V of Habsburg, who restored it to Federico II, Duke of Mantua from the House of Gonzaga in 1536. His son Margrave William X was elevated to a Duke of Montferrat in 1574 and the "march" ceased to exist as an entity, though it had already undergone the significant change from a feudal collection of frontier counties to one of the petty states of Renaissance Italy, divided into two separated territories.

The Diocese of Casale Monferrato (Latin: Dioecesis Casalensis) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in northwest Italy, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vercelli which forms part of the ecclesiastical region of Piedmont. The diocese, which adheres to the Roman Rite, was established on 18 April 1474 for political reasons, to transform the Marquisate of Montferrat into an ecclesiastic territory.

Casale Monferrato Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Casale Monferrato; Cattedrale di Sant'Evasio) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Casale Monferrato, province of Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy, dedicated to Saint Evasius. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Casale Monferrato.

Edizioni Piemme, formerly Edizioni Piemme S.p.A. is an Italian book publisher with specialisms in religion, and in fiction for children and young adults. It is a division of Mondadori Libri S.p.A. of Mondadori group and formerly incorporated as a subsidiary. Since October 2003 it has been part of the Mondadori group which acquired 70% of its equity at a cost of 14.104 million Euros. Among its best known publications are the Ulysses Moore and Century sagas for children by Pierdomenico Baccalario, and the works of Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner.

San Filippo Neri is a Baroque-style, Roman Catholic church located on Via della Biblioteca, in Casale Monferrato, Province of Alessandria, region of Piedmont, Italy.

Casale Monferrato railway station is the main station of Casale Monferrato, in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy, and is now the only one at which passenger trains stop.

Officine Meccaniche Giovanni Cerutti S.p.A. is an Italian joint-stock company headquartered in Casale Monferrato, which designs and manufactures rotogravure and flexo printing presses and related equipment for magazine and newspaper production, and for the printing and converting of packaging materials.

San Giorgio Monferrato (in Piedmontese San Giòrs Monfrà) is a comune of the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont. It is about 60 kilometres (37 mi) east of the regional capital Turin and about 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of Alessandria. The territory of this small rural commune of the Monferrato Casalese extends over an area of 7.1 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi). Its population of 1,293 is concentrated in the village of San Giorgio (Saint George). The communal coat of arms pictures the saint killing the dragon. San Giorgio clusters around a medieval castle on a low hill southwest of Casale Monferrato, which dominates the road from Casale to Asti. San Giorgio Monferrato borders the following municipalities: Casale Monferrato, Ozzano Monferrato, and Rosignano Monferrato.

Balzola is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) east of Turin and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of Alessandria.