Comune Grognardo

piazza della Chiesa, 1 - 15010 Grognardo (AL)
Tel. +39 0144.762103
Fax: +39 (0144) 762.900
E-mail: comunegrognardo@tiscalinet.it
http://www.comune.grognardo.al.it/

Surrounded by large, still completely untouched woodlands, its origins date back to the Middle Ages. The name of the village is mentioned for the first time in the deed of foundation and donation of the Abbey of San Quintino in Spigno (991) under the name Ragnando. Grognardo is dominated from above by the ruins of the ancient, thousand-year-old castle.
It is known that in the 16th century, around the fortified building, a cluster of houses joined together and separated by three gates allowed for easy defense of the village and its inhabitants in times of danger.
In the 11th century, St. Guido, Bishop of Acqui, built the first church, San Felice (photo), a parish church erected to affirm Christianity in the countryside.
Grognardo, probably founded for defensive reasons on the hill known as Poggio, saw the flourishing of the current settlement during the Renaissance, thanks to its favorable location for trade. It is mentioned in several notarial deeds as Villa del Piano.

It was later sold to the Malaspina family and then to the Beccaria-Incisa counts.

Places to visit: the 17th-century complex consisting of the parish church of Sant’Andrea and the Palazzo Incisa Beccaria; the remains of the castle, isolated on a wooded hill overlooking the village; and a 16th-century residential building.

(image from the municipality website)