Comune Spineto Scrivia

piazza IV Novembre - 15050 Spineto Scrivia (AL)
Tel. +39 (0131) 892.136
E-mail: info@comune.spinetoscrivia.al.it
http://www.comune.spinetoscrivia.al.it

There is no reliable evidence regarding the origin of the toponym; however, despite the lack of documentary evidence, it seems reasonable to assume it derives from spina, which would support the interpretation of Spineto as a toponym, accompanied since 1928 by the name of the stream on whose right bank the town stands.
The small agricultural town therefore likely owes its name to the dense woods of thorny brambles that dotted the area before the village was founded.
It arose around a castle, of which the ruins of a low tower, the entrance gate, and other annexed buildings remain today. It must actually have been a refuge for the protection of the rural population, as there was no noble fortress, only fortifications surrounded by a moat.
Another fortress existed in the locality of Mariana (now commonly called Marianna), but, destroyed and plundered at the end of the 16th century, it was reborn in its current form as a fortified rural villa, surrounded by walls.
Spineto was long under the direct rule of the bishops of Tortona, enjoying the privileges of the bishopric's lands, but it suffered two serious devastations in the 17th and 18th centuries at the hands of French and German troops. Further serious damage to the town's oldest architecture was caused by the earthquake that struck the Tortona hills in 1828.
The original parish church, likely no earlier than the 15th century and damaged by the earthquake, was completely rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century as the Parish Church of San Giacomo Apostolo, while the bell tower dates back to 1831.