The International Classical Guitar Competition entitled "Città of Alessandria" was first held in 1968 on the occasion of the celebration to mark the 800th anniversary of the foundation of Alessandria.
The promoter of the initiative, the first of its kind in Italy, was Dr. Michele Pittaluga, the musicologist from Alessandria, who had previously created one of the first chairs of classical guitar music at "Antonio Vivaldi" Liceo Musicale, where he was the principal and which, thanks to his interest, later became a State Conservatory.
The Honorary President of the Jury for the first edition of the Award was the great Spanish master, Andres Segovia.
Alirio Diaz., unquestionably one of the most important figures in the international guitar world was President of the International Jury for thirty years. Now is the Honorary President. After the death of Dr. Pittaluga, in June 1995, the name of the competition was changed to "Michele Pittaluga International Classical Guitar Competition - City of Alessandria Award", and is organised by a special committee, led by his sons, that has, as part of its by-laws, the commitment to spreading knowledge of the guitar repertoire, promoting new talents and supporting initiatives in favour of these goals. The competition takes place every year, in September .
Since 1981, the City of Alessandria Award has been a member of the Fédération Mondiale des Concours Internationaux de Musique, with headquarters in Geneva and membership in UNESCO, and it is the only Italian guitar competition that belongs to this organization.
Also since 1981 the program of the competition has been extended to repertoires with orchestra or string quartet.
Over the years, many orchestras have played for the competition, including the Angelicum of Milan (Cond. Giulio Bertola), the Turin Symphonic Orchestra (Cond. Franco Mariatti), the ATA Orchestra (Cond. Giulio Bertola and Edoardo Muller), the Philharmonic Orchestra of Piacenza (Cond. Marcello Rota), the Philharmonic Orchestra of Torino (cond. Paolo Ferrara and Ignacio Yepes), the Nova Musica string quartet. Since 1995, the Alessandria Competition has been placed under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Italy and supported by the "Consiglio dei Ministri".
The members of the Jury or special guests have included the most representative personalities of the world guitar scene from Alexandre Tansman, to Antonio Lauro, Leo Brouwer, Joaquin Rodrigo, and many others.
In the thirty five years of its history, the competition has rewarded many young guitarists who have gone on to a splendid concert career: In the "golden list" of the Competition, we can find the most important guitarists of the new generation.
The amount cash prize is about 23.000 Euro, with medals and expenses refund.
The winner is offered a series of concert booking in a number of Italian cities, including Torino, Piacenza, Sassari, Roma, Siracusa, Bergamo, Asti, Saluzzo, Cervia, Venezia, Stresa, Milano and other concerts abroad.
In 1997 a separate contest was created, entitled "Michele Pittaluga International Competition for Composition for the Classical Guitar" with the idea of expanding the contemporary guitar repertoire. This competition too is registered with the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva.
For the first four editions the contest has been annual, from the fifth it became biennial.
The winning works are awarded with a cash prize of 4.500 Euro and with the publication by a renowned Editing House . The first Prize, could be performed in a world premier the following September on the occasion of the finals of the Classical Guitar Competition.