Description : Alba (Langhe dialect: Arba; Latin: Alba Pompeia) is a town and comune of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of Cuneo. It is considered the capital of the UNESCO Human Heritage hilly area of Langhe, and is famous for its white truffle and wine production. The confectionery group Ferrero is based there. The city joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in October 2017. Alba's origins date from before the Roman civilization, connected probably to the presence of Celtic and Ligurian tribes in the area. The modern town occupies the site of ancient Alba Pompeia, the name given after being officially recognized as a town by the Roman consul Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo while constructing a road from Aquae Statiellae (Acqui) to Augusta Taurinorum (Turin). Alba was the birthplace of Publius Helvius Pertinax, briefly Roman emperor in 193. After the fall of the Western Empire, the city was repeatedly sacked by Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks, Hungarians and Saracens. In the 11th century it became a free commune (or city-state) and was a member of the Lombard League. Montferrat and the Visconti fought over the town; later it became a possession of the Gonzaga. Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy conquered it twice, while later France and Spain battled for its possession. The Treaty of Cherasco (1631) assigned Alba definitively to Savoy. During Napoleonic Wars, it was part of the Republic of Alba (1796) and of the Subalpine Republic, both French clients, before being annexed to the French Empire in 1802. It was an arrondissement center in firstly Tanaro department between 1802-1805, later in Stura one between 1805-1814 before liberation by Austrian troops. It was returned to Kingdom of Sardinia (Duchy of Savoy's name after gaining Sardinia in 1720) in 1814. Alba won a Gold Medal for Military Valour for the heroic activity of its citizens in the Italian resistance movement during the course of World War II. On 10 October 1944, the town was liberated by partisans who established a Republic of Alba which for a few weeks was able to maintain its independence from the Fascist Republic of Salò. The republic lasted to 2 November 1944, when Republic of Salo retook it. It was finally liberated by French troops on 2 May 1945.
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