History of Ivrea

The place of Ivrea was formerly colonized  by the “Salassi”, a people who lived the present “Canavese” and “Valle d'Aosta”, whose main activities were the mining of iron, copper, gold and silver. Since they occupied a strategic step on the way towards Gaul, the Romans moved a victorious war against the “Salassi” and, in 100 BC, they founded “Eporedia”, which then  became “municipium”. As regards the etymology, the question is undoubtedly complex, but the best hypothesis is that proposed by G.B. Pellegrini, who writes: "[...] ‘Eporedia-Ivrea’ is attested by classical authors and inscriptions (PID 311  Tab. Med. 64), for example by Tacitus [56-117 AD] (Hist. 1, 70), Cicero [196-43 BC] , "Ad Familiares”, XI, 20, Pliny the Elder [23-79 AD] , III, 123, Strabo [58-25 BC approx.], IV, 6, 7, CIL V 6777) . The city is certainly a Celtic settlement (...) A first response is the Gaulish personal name "Epo-redo-rix" (...) and the Latin term "redarius' (" Driver of a 'reda'), and the  'reda' was a popular Gallic vehicle. And, we must note that 'eporediae' were the 'boni equorum domitores' ("the capable horse trainers"); the term  derives, thus,  from the word therefore 'epo' (i.e. 'horse'), cf. the Latin word "equus".

A brilliant and precise explanation of the Ivrea name was given by Serra in 1943, who felt that 'Epo-redia' was a term derived from the Gaulish 'epo-reda' ("equestrian cart"), in the meaning of German ' Wagen Burg ', i.e.'a barricade of carts ', a 'fortified place by a barrier of equestrian carts '; (...) Even more clearly the response with the name "Cart-dunum' ('fortress of  carts') [ ...]" (See  G.B. Pellegrini, “Diecimila nomi di città, paesi” ["Ten thousand names of cities, towns ...], Hoepli, 1990: 113). In conclusion "Eporedia" means "fortress of carts”. The etymology of G.B. Pellegrini is also supported by other scholars, who noted that "[...] The Gallic name of 'Eporedia' has a more clearly relevant in the context of the Gallic name of a military character as ‘Vind-dunum’ [the' White '(' Vind ')' Fortress' ('Dunum')] and 'Virodunum' [the 'Strong' ('Viro') Fortress ('dunum'), especially with the names of particular Gallic military character as 'Mundu-essedum', the name of a town in England and 'Tarvessedum',  the name of a place of Retia [...]" (See G. Devoto, in "Lingua Nostra", 1943: 52).

According to the typical technique of Roman institution, even "Eporedia" was built according to  two lines formed by the "cardo" and “decumanus”. The plan of “Eporedia”, thus, formed an irregular pentagon because of the hilly terrain nature; the “decumanus maximus”  corresponded to the present  “Via Palestro” and “Via Arduino” (still today the main street of the city), while the “cardo maximus”  corresponded to present “Via IV Martyrs”. In the glory days, “Eporedia” had several public buildings including a theatre, an amphitheatre, a forum, a temple, some thermae and two bridges over the Dora River.

From the fifth to the ninth century “Eporedia” was the seat of a Longobard duchy, then it was a county of a Frankish kingdom that dominated the “Canavese”, “Novara”, “Lomellina” and one part of “Monferrato”; in the ninth century it became the capital of the “Marca” of Ivrea. Around the year one thousand, the town was dominated by two great men, like Bishop Warmondo (930-1011 approx.), who contributed to the cultural, religious and artistic increase of his city, and the Marquis Arduino (955-1015), the symbol of freedom and independence from the Empire, crowned king of Italy at Pavia in 1002.

In the following centuries, in the clash between the Marquis of “Monferrato” and the Dukes of Savoy, the latter prevailed, and Ivrea swore loyalty to them in 1313. In 1357 Amedeo VI  of Savoy (1334-1383) built the massive castle which still dominates the city. In 1393 Ivrea was hit by a violent plague, and the century ended with the violent rebellion of the peasants against the lords because of heavy taxes. Followed the period of the Spanish and French domination; in fact, in the early nineteenth century, Napoleon's troops took possession of the city, which became the capital of the Department of the Dora.

After the fall of Napoleon, the city returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia until 1859 and it remained capital of the province. In the nineteenth century the city expanded and were implemented substantial transformations to the town, which, gradually, lost its ancient medieval structure. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the city had an important industrialization.