Comune Montecastello

via Umberto I, 2 - 15040 Montecastello (AL)
Tel. +39 (0131) 355.136
Fax: +39 (0131) 355.136
E-mail: segreteria@comune.montecastello.al.it
http://www.comune.montecastello.al.it/

It is one of the last crags of the Basso Monferrato hilly fold facing the confluence of the Tanaro and Bormida rivers. The promontory overlooking the Tanaro bend offers a wide view of the Marengo plain between the Bormida and Scrivia rivers, with the Tortona pre-Apennines fading into the Oltre Po Pavese. The ancient settlement was located on the plain east of the hill as early as the Upper Paleolithic. In 967, Montecastello was enfeoffed by Otto I to Aleramo dei Marchesi del Bosco, and then passed to the Bellingeri family, who ceded Montecastello to the Municipality of Alessandria in 1180. Protracted disputes followed between the Marquises of Monferrato, the Municipality of Alessandria, the Municipality of Pavia, and the Visconti family of Milan. In 1707, it came under the Subalpine government.

(text and image - excerpt - from the Municipality website)