Asti (Asta Pompeia), a city of Piedmont, in the government of Alessandria, lies on the left bank of the Tanaro, 35 miles ESE. of Turin by rail. Population, 17,340. It is a large town, with walls considerably dilapidated, and the streets generally very narrow and irregular. It has a large Gothic cathedral, which was completed about 1348, and a royal college. There is carried on a considerable trade in silk and woollen fabrics, hats, leather, and agricultural produce. The vino d'Asti, a kind of Muscatel (q.v.), is highly esteemed. The town is of high antiquity, having been famous for its pottery before its capture by the Gauls in 400 B.C. On the occasion of its being again taken and destroyed in an irruption of the Gauls, it was rebuilt by Pompey, and received the name of Asta Pompeia. In the middle ages, Asti was one of the most powerful republics of Upper Italy. It was captured and burnt by the Emperor
Frederick I. in 1155, and, after a series of vicissitudes, came into the possession of the Visconti of Naples; by them it was ceded to the French, in whose hands it remained till the middle of the 16th century, when the Dukes of Savoy acquired it. Alfieri was born here, 1749.