Parmesan is not confined to the province from which it derives its name; it is manufactured in all that part of Emilia in the neighborhood of the P0, and in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, Novara and Alessandria.
Frederick fled for Lombard his life by the Mont Cenis, and in 1168 the town of Alessandria was erected to keep Pavia and the marquisate in check.
In the emperors absence, Raven.na, Rimini, Imola and Foril joined the league, which now called itself the Society of Venice, Lombardy, the March, Romagna and Alessandria.
The fortress town of Alessandria stopped his progress with those mud walls contemptuously named of straw, while the forces of the league assembled at Modena and obliged him to raise the siege.
Montferrat and Alessandria were added to his northern provinces, and his state was recognized as independent.