Why Are There So Many Castles in Monferrato? The Story of a Contested and Fortified Land
When we walk through the hills, castles seem to appear one after another
by Simona Gotta - Monfreedom Guide You only need to travel a few kilometres through Monferrato to notice one of the features that most strongly defines this landscape: castles are everywhere. Some still dominate entire villages from the tops of the hills, others have become elegant aristocratic residences surrounded by parks, while others survive only through a tower, a section of wall or a structure now absorbed into the historic centre.
During a hike, it is common to spot more than one simply by looking towards the horizon. One castle rises above a village, another appears on the next ridge, and a little farther away a tower reminds us that even that hill once had a precise role in controlling the surrounding territory.
At first, we might think that this extraordinary concentration is due only to the presence of many noble families. In reality, the explanation is much more interesting, because to understand it we need to look at Monferrato’s geographical position and its history. For centuries, these hills stood at the centre of different political, military and economic interests, and controlling a hilltop could mean controlling roads, valleys, trade routes and connections between territories.
This is where much of the fortified landscape that still accompanies our walks today began.
Monferrato was not a quiet region on the margins of history
Today we associate these hills with vineyards, villages, good food and peaceful landscapes. In the Middle Ages and in the centuries that followed, however, the situation was very different.
Monferrato was for a long time a politically important territory, positioned between areas influenced by different powers and crossed by routes linking the Po Valley, Piedmont, Liguria and other parts of northern Italy.
The Marquisate of Monferrato emerged in the Middle Ages and was ruled for centuries by dynasties whose political relationships extended far beyond the local area. The Aleramici, followed by the Palaeologus dynasty, developed a territorial system in which castles and fortifications played a fundamental role.
The situation was made even more complex by the presence of powerful cities and neighbouring territories with conflicting interests. Asti, Alessandria, Vercelli, the Visconti of Milan and later the House of Savoy were only some of the powers Monferrato had to deal with.
In such a context, a hill was not simply a panoramic place. It could be a strategic position that needed to be defended.
Every hilltop could become an observation point
If we climb to a castle in Monferrato today, one of the first things we instinctively do is look at the view, and that very panorama helps us understand why the fortress was built exactly there.
From above, we can follow a valley, see a road, identify other villages and, on clear days, observe enormous distances. In the Middle Ages, this visibility was not simply aesthetic: it meant being able to detect the movement of people, goods and armed groups before they reached the village.
Towers extended the field of vision even further, and in some cases different fortified structures may have been positioned to control complementary areas of the same territory.
When we stop on a ridge during a hike and point out the castles visible on the surrounding hills, the landscape suddenly changes meaning. We realise that these buildings were not scattered randomly, but almost formed a geography of power.
Castle and village often grew together
In a previous article, we explained why so many Monferrato villages were built on hilltops. The presence of castles is closely connected to that story.
In many cases, a tower, fortified structure or castle became the nucleus around which the settlement gradually developed. Living nearby meant having a place of refuge in times of danger and, at the same time, becoming part of the economic and political system controlled by the local lord.
The castle was therefore not simply the home of an important family, but the centre from which property, land, rights and relationships with the population were managed. Houses, religious buildings and productive structures could develop around it, while defensive walls were gradually added to protect the settlement.
This is why, even today, many Monferrato villages reveal an almost vertical structure: fields and vineyards on the slopes, houses concentrated along the ridge and, at the highest point, the castle or whatever remains of it.
Not all the castles we see today still look like medieval fortresses
When we hear the word “castle”, we immediately imagine high walls, battlements, drawbridges and soldiers. Yet many castles in Monferrato have undergone centuries of transformation.
As military needs decreased, several fortifications gradually lost their defensive function and were adapted to a completely different way of life. Larger windows were opened in the walls, interior spaces became reception rooms, and gardens, staircases, decorations, terraces and parks appeared, while the fortress slowly became an aristocratic residence.
This is why in Monferrato we can find buildings that still preserve a clearly medieval tower next to structures added many centuries later. Learning to recognise these transformations is almost like reading a history book through architecture.
Gabiano: a castle overlooking the Po from above
Among the most evocative castles in the area is Gabiano, occupying an extraordinary panoramic position on the hills overlooking the Po.
When we observe it from the surrounding landscape, the strategic value of its location becomes immediately clear. The hill commands an immense territory, and the presence of the castle is documented from the Early Middle Ages.
Over the centuries, the complex was transformed several times, gradually moving from a defensive role to that of a noble residence. Today, one of its best-known features is the large garden maze, which belongs to a very different phase from the castle’s original military history.
It is precisely this contrast that explains the evolution of many Monferrato castles so well: first instruments of territorial control, later places of representation, aristocratic life and agricultural management.
Uviglie: from medieval castle to cellars among the vineyards
The Castle of Uviglie, in the territory of Rosignano Monferrato, also tells the story of the relationship between fortification, residence and wine-growing landscape.
Its origins date back to the Middle Ages, and over time the complex was transformed into a noble residence. Today, looking at it surrounded by hills and vineyards, we can understand how the history of the castle gradually became connected to another fundamental element of Monferrato: wine.
Historic cellars, agricultural land and the residence itself end up telling several different periods at once and show how reductive it would be to consider castles as isolated monuments. Very often, in fact, they are closely linked to agriculture and to the management of the land around them.
Moncalvo: when walls and towers are all that remain of the great fortress
Not all castles have survived intact.
In Moncalvo, for example, important sections of the ancient defensive walls and massive towers still remain and continue to shape the profile of the town.
Walking along these fortifications allows us to understand physically how imposing the defensive system must once have been and, above all, how important Moncalvo’s position was.
Here the castle no longer appears as a single building to visit room by room. Instead, the surviving structures tell the story.
For a guide, this is particularly interesting because it means helping people reconstruct mentally what no longer exists, transforming a stretch of wall into the boundary of an ancient fortress, a tower into an observation point and an apparently ordinary urban space into part of the old defensive system.
Casale Monferrato: when the castle becomes part of the history of a capital
The story of Monferrato’s castles cannot be told without mentioning Casale Monferrato.
As Casale gained increasing political importance and became the capital of the Marquisate, its defensive structures also became central. The city castle was built in the 14th century and later enlarged and transformed, eventually becoming part of a much more complex defensive system.
Walking today around the moat and looking at the large corner towers, it is difficult not to sense how Casale was, for centuries, far more than a quiet provincial town. It was a political and military centre involved in much wider European power dynamics.
This is precisely the dimension that often surprises visitors who know Monferrato only through its modern agricultural and tourist image.
Even a transformed castle still tells the story of war
Over the centuries, military techniques changed profoundly, and the introduction and development of firearms gradually made some medieval structures less effective. Walls had to be modified, towers adapted and fortifications redesigned.
Some castles were strengthened, others lost importance, while others were damaged or destroyed during wars and sieges. This is why two castles in Monferrato can look very different even when they are only a few kilometres apart.
Every building carries the consequences of its own history, and even when those transformations are not immediately obvious, knowing where to look allows us to begin recognising them.
Behind every castle there are also legends, stories and local memories
As in almost every territory rich in castles, Monferrato also preserves stories of underground passages, impossible loves, hidden treasures, apparitions, sieges and mysterious characters.
Some stories may have originated from real events and later been transformed by oral tradition, while others belong entirely to popular imagination.
During a hike, it is important to distinguish documented history from legend, but that does not mean legends have no value. They too reveal the relationship that a community has built over time with a place, especially when a castle or isolated tower was perceived for generations as mysterious, difficult to reach or connected to powerful families.
Many castles are still privately owned
There is also a very practical aspect that visitors to Monferrato should know: not every castle is a public museum.
Many are still privately owned, and some are still inhabited.
This means that visiting conditions can vary considerably. Some open regularly during certain periods of the year, others take part in initiatives dedicated to historic residences or open castles, while others can only be visited during special events or by reservation.
This is also one of the things we try to check when planning Monfreedom excursions. If our route passes near a castle and there is an opportunity to visit it on that particular day, whenever possible we try to include the experience in the programme.
Reaching a castle after seeing it in the distance for kilometres along the trail and then being able to enter its courtyards or rooms means completing the story that began during the walk.
Reaching a castle on foot completely changes the perception of the place
There is an enormous difference between parking in front of a castle entrance and reaching it on foot, because when we walk, we see it appear gradually and can understand step by step the relationship between the building and the territory.
At first, it is only a distant silhouette on the ridge. Then we begin to distinguish a tower, understand the height of the hill, observe the valleys below and, during the climb, physically experience how difficult that position was to reach and how easy it was to control.
By the time we finally arrive at the walls, we have already understood an important part of their function.
Hiking allows us to transform geography into experience, because we do not simply have to imagine how dominant the position was. We have just climbed it ourselves.
Castles and vineyards: two images that now seem inseparable
One of the most fascinating aspects of contemporary Monferrato is the way in which the military landscape of the past overlaps with the agricultural landscape of today.
Many fortifications now rise above expanses of vineyards, and towers that once served to watch for approaching enemies now overlook rows of Barbera, Grignolino, Ruchè and other local grape varieties. Roads that once connected castles and villages now cross countryside that has become part of one of Piedmont’s most recognisable wine landscapes.
History and agriculture have therefore created together the image we now associate with Monferrato.
Perhaps it is precisely this overlap that makes the landscape so fascinating: in the same view, we do not simply see a beautiful cultivated hill and an old castle, but different centuries still visible at the same time.
A guide can help you understand which castle you are looking at and why it stands exactly there
During our excursions, someone often points to a distant fortification and asks simply: “Which castle is that?”
The interesting answer, however, should not stop at the name.
It should explain which territory the castle controlled, which family it was connected to, what relationship it had with the village below, how it was transformed and why that particular hill had strategic value.
At that point, the castle becomes a key to understanding the entire landscape.
This is one of the things that matters most to us in the way we guide: not simply accumulating information, but connecting it to what we have in front of us. If, after an explanation, someone looks at the same hill again and sees it differently, then the story has worked.
The castles of Monferrato are best discovered slowly
We could certainly create a driving itinerary and try to see ten castles in one day, but by the evening many of them would probably begin to blur together.
Walking offers a different experience. We can choose one area, approach a fortification slowly, observe it from different viewpoints, cross the village that grew at its feet and understand how the position of the castle influenced everything around it.
We may enter only one castle during the day, but we will probably understand much more.
The next time you see a castle on a Monferrato hill, ask yourself why it stands exactly there
Do not simply wonder who lived there.
Look at the territory it dominates, identify the valley below, the roads and the other villages visible on the horizon, and try to imagine that landscape without cars, paved roads or the conveniences that today make moving from one hill to another so easy.
Then you will understand why Monferrato has so many castles.
They were not decorations built to make the landscape more romantic. They were instruments of power, protection and control, created in a territory shaped for centuries by different political and military interests.
Fortunately, today we no longer have to fear armies arriving through the valleys. We can reach those same hilltops on foot, sit in front of the view and observe the castles for what they have become: extraordinary witnesses to a history that helped shape the Monferrato we know today.
And once again, this is how we love to tell the story during Monfreedom excursions: not simply by showing what we encounter along the trail, but by trying to understand together why that castle, that village and that landscape are exactly there in front of us.
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