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The Castello Scarampi di Monale is an imposing medieval construction; it dates back to the feudal ages and was built with the purpose of defending its Lord and the inhabitants of the village.
We find it mentioned in manuscripts of the XII th century but it was destroyed and rebuilt in 1305 by the noble family of the Asinari who successively ceded the county to the Scarampi: a rich family of bankers from Asti who, after the fractioning of the feud, kept the majority quota share.
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The last Scarampi were two sisters Adele and Paola; Adele woman of great beauty and strong temperament married Count Carlo Gani a filanthropist and Consul to Spain in Torino (then capital of the kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia).
To this day the castle is inhabited by the Gani family.
The Ganis restaured the fortress according to the taste of the period and enhanced its medieval character rather than the XVII th century aspects.
Alone, it dominates the western side of the hill that overlooks the valley. This construction well harmonises the austere forms of the middle ages with the more gracefull ones of the XVII th century. |
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| From a XVII th century incision |
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