ASTI, a large and well-built town of Italy, in the province of Alessandria (Piedmont), situated on the left bank of the Tanaro. It is the see of a bishop, the chief town of a circondario, and a station on the Turin and Alessandria railway. Its Gothic cathedral dates from 1348, besides which there are a large number of churches, a college, an old castle, and a theatre. In the Middle Ages Asti was a great commercial city, and one of the most powerful republics of Northern Italy. It was long famous for its hundred towers, of which a number are still standing. As a free city it opposed Frederick I., but it was taken by him and burnt in 1155. In 1348 it fell into the possession of the Visconti, and thus passed first to France, and then, after the peace of Cambray in 1529, to Charles V., who bestowed it on his aunt, Beatrice of Savoy. In the war of the Spanish Succession it frequently changed hands, and in 1745 was taken by storm by the French. It was the birth-place of Alfieri, whose statue, by Vini, adorns the piazza. The inhabitants carry on a considerable trade in corn, wine, and silk, and are also engaged in the manufacture of woollen goods, leather, paper, and hats. Population, about 31,000.