Alessandria  

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 +'''Alessandria''' is a city and ''[[comune]]'' in [[Piedmont, Italy]], and the capital of the [[Province of Alessandria]]. The city is sited on the [[alluvial plain]] between the [[Tanaro River|Tanaro]] and the [[Bormida River|Bormida]] rivers, about 90 km southeast of [[Turin]].
-'''''Baudolino''''' is a [[2000 in literature|2000]] novel by [[Umberto Eco]] about the adventures of a young man named Baudolino in the known and mythical [[Christianity|Christian]] world of the [[12th century]].+Alessandria is also a major [[railway]] [[transport hub|hub]].
- +
-''Baudolino'' was translated into English in 2001 by [[William Weaver]]. The novel presented a number of particular difficulties in translation, not the least of which is that there are ten or so pages written in a made-up language that is a mixture of Latin, medieval Italian and other languages.+
- +
-==Plot summary==+
-In the year of 1204, Baudolino of [[Alessandria]] enters [[Constantinople]], unaware of the [[Fourth Crusade]] that has thrown the city into chaos. In the confusion, he meets [[Niketas Choniates]] and saves his life. Niketas is amazed by his language genius, speaking many languages he has never heard, and on the question: if he is not part of the crusade, who is he? Baudolino begins to recount his life story to Niketas.+
- +
-His story begins in 1155, when Baudolino is sold to and adopted by the emperor [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick I]]. At court and on the battlefield, he is educated in reading and writing [[Latin]] and learns about the power struggles and battles of northern [[Italy]] at the time. He is sent to [[Paris]] to become a scholar.+
- +
-In Paris, he gains friends (such as the [[Archpoet]], Abdul, [[Robert de Boron]] and [[Kyot]], the purported source of [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]'s ''[[Parzival]]'') and learns about the legendary kingdom of [[Prester John]]. From this event onward, Baudolino dreams of reaching this fabled land. After the death of Frederick, Baudolino and his friends set off on a long journey, encompassing 15 years, to find the Kingdom of Prester John. Baudolino meets [[eunuch]]s, [[unicorn]]s, [[Blemmyes (legendary creatures)|Blemmyes]], [[Monopod (creature)|skiapods]] and [[Pygmy (mythology)|pygmies]]. At one point, he falls in love with a female [[satyr]]-like creature who recounts to him the full [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] creation myth; [[Gnosticism]] is a pervasive presence in another of Eco's novels, ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]''. Philosophical debates are mixed with comedy, epic adventure and creatures drawn from the strangest medieval bestiaries.+
- +
-===Characters in ''Baudolino''===+
-{| class="wikitable" align="right" width="250"+
-||+
-|-+
-| +
-| +
-|-+
-| colspan="2" | [[Various strange characters figuring in the novel Baudolino as rendered in the Nuremberg Chronicle]]s. These creatures and many others were all described and named by [[Pliny the Elder]] in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historiæ]]'' from 77 AD: A [[Monopod (creature)|monopod]] and a [[satyr]] (top); a [[Blemmyes (legendary creatures)|blemmyae]] and a [[panotti]] (above).+
-|}+
-;Invented by Eco+
-*Baudolino — young man of Alessandria, protagonist, apparently a reference to [[Saint Baudolino|the patron saint]].+
-*The [[Monopod (creature)|monopod]] Gavagai, a reference to [[Willard Van Orman Quine|Quine]]'s example of [[indeterminacy of translation]].+
-*The putative successors of [[Hypatia of Alexandria]]+
-*Deacon John, leprous sub-ruler of [[Pndapetzim]]+
- +
-;Other fictional or legendary beings+
-*[[Kyot]]+
-*Gagliaudo Aulari, legendary saviour of [[Alessandria]], and his wife, who are Baudolino's biological parents+
-*[[Prester John]]+
-*[[Satyr]]s+
-*[[Blemmyes (legendary creatures)|Blemmyes]]+
-*[[Panotti]]+
- +
-;Historical+
-*[[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick Barbarossa]]+
-*[[Niketas Choniates]]+
-*[[Robert de Boron]]+
-*[[Rainald of Dassel]]+
-*[[Hassan-i Sabbah|The Old Man of the Mountain]]+
-*[[Pope Alexander III]]+
-*[[Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy]]+
-*The [[Archpoet]] (unknown except through his poetry)+
-*[[Otto of Freising]]+
-*A member of the ancient [[Artsruni]] noble clan+
-*[[Andronicus I Comnenus]]+
-*[[Stephen Hagiochristophorites]]+
-*[[Bede|The Venerable Bede]]+
- +
-==Release details==+
-*2000, Italy, [[Bompiani]] (ISBN 88-452-4736-8), Pub date ? ? 2000, hardback (First edition, Italian)+
-*2001, Brazil, Editora Record (ISBN 85-01-06026-7), Pub date ? ? 2001, paperback (Portuguese edition)+
-*2002, UK, Secker & Warburg (ISBN 0-436-27603-8), Pub date 15 October 2002, hardback +
-*2002, USA, Harcourt (ISBN 0-15-100690-3), Pub date 15 October 2002, hardcover +
-*2002, France, Grasset and Fasquelle (ISBN 2-246-61501-1), Pub date 12 February 2002, paperback (French edition)+
-*2002, USA, Recorded Books (ISBN 1-4025-2814-0), Pub date ? October 2002, audiobook (cassette edition)+
-*2003, Italy, Fabbri - RCS Libri (ISBN 88-452-5195-0), Pub date ? January 2003, paperback (Italian edition)+
-*2003, USA, Harvest Books (ISBN 0-15-602906-5), Pub date 6 October 2003, paperback+
- +
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Alessandria is a city and comune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about 90 km southeast of Turin.

Alessandria is also a major railway hub.

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