Antonio Ghislieri, who was born in Bosco Marengo, elected Pope with the name of Pio V in 1566, wanted to build the Monumental Complex of S. Croce in Bosco Marengo, and entrusted the Church Santa Croce and its convent to the Order of the Dominican Predicant Friars, of which he himself belonged. The convent was later transformed into barracks, which were then turned into an ophthalmic clinic, and finally into a reformatory till 1989, but there are still pictures, sculptures, carvings and tapestries of great value conserved in the church of Santa Croce, as the famous “macchina vasariana” - a large wooden altar with architectural carvings - and a large number of Giorgio Vasari’s paintings. Together with his works there are, still visible, works of various painters and sculptors from all over Italy, bearing evidence to the importance of the complex from both the artistic and the religious points of view.

The magnificent cloisters of the ancient convent are also worthy mentioning, as well as the elegant library, the capitulary hall and the refectory, all settings of austere harmony.

The complexity and stratification of constructions, the richness of the artistic patrimony hosted in the Complex, as the following situations involving it in the course of centuries, make it absolutely needed to give life and renew the restoration intentions about it. That is why local institutions as the Province of Alessandria and the City of Bosco Marengo, proposed to the initiators of The World Political Forum, the Complex of Bosco Marengo as a seat of an association that was created with a specific mission: to foster contacts between politicians, scientists, high level personalities in the cultural and religious life of different continents, faiths, languages and cultures, in order to analyse the issue of interdependence, but above all to suggest solutions for the problems of the governance of globalisation and the crucial problems that affect humankind in this beginning of the third millennium.

The signature of the constitutional act and the founding session of The World Political Forum took place just in this historical seat in May 2002 at the presence of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev and of outstanding Italian and foreign personalities. From Autumn 2006, it has been possible to hold the Plenary Sessions of The World Political Forum in the Monumental Complex, which already hosted “A New World Political Architecture” in 2006 and “Human Rights and Democracy for a Globalized World” in 2008.

For the restoration and functionality of the museum and congress spaces regarding the west wing of the Complex, the Region of Piedmont, the Turin Saving Bank Foundation, the Alessandria Saving Bank Foundation, the Province of Alessandria and the City of Bosco Marengo signed a first financial agreement which will be implemented with following funds to recuperate artistically and functionally the seat of S. Croce.

The conference rooms are available for hosting meetings and conventions.