Hotels in Alessandria

Alessandria sits in the Po Plain of Piedmont, roughly 90 km east of Turin and 75 km north of Genoa. Founded in 1168 as a Lombard League stronghold against Frederick Barbarossa, the city grew into a regional trade and military hub. Its most visible landmark is the Cittadella — one of Europe's best-preserved 18th-century star fortresses, built by the House of Savoy between 1728 and 1738 and still standing largely intact on the west bank of the Tanaro River.

Visitors come for the Cittadella tours, the weekly antique market, and the city's quiet historic center with its Baroque cathedral and arcaded streets. Alessandria is also the birthplace of the Borsalino hat — the factory opened here in 1857, and the Borsalino Museum documents the craft in detail. Food travelers use the city as a base for the Monferrato wine hills to the east, a UNESCO-listed landscape producing Barbera and Grignolino. The surrounding province also borders the white-truffle territory of Acqui Terme and Ovada.

Alessandria has a mainline rail station with direct connections to Turin (about 50 minutes), Milan (about 1 hour), and Genoa (about 45 minutes). The city's population is approximately 85,000, making it the second-largest city in Piedmont after Turin. Most hotels concentrate near the station and the central Piazza della Libertà.