Rocca Grimalda
| Rocca Grimalda | |
|---|---|
| Comune | |
| Comune di Rocca Grimalda | |
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 Rocca Grimalda
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| Coordinates: 44°40′21″N 8°38′58″E / 44.67250°N 8.64944°ECoordinates: 44°40′21″N 8°38′58″E / 44.67250°N 8.64944°E | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Piedmont |
| Province / Metropolitan city | Province of Alessandria (AL) |
| Frazioni | San Giacomo |
| Area | |
| • Total | 15.64 km2 (6.04 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 280 m (920 ft) |
| Population (31 December 2006) | |
| • Total | 1,474 |
| • Density | 94/km2 (240/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | Rocchesi |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 15078 |
| Dialing code | 0143 |
| Patron saint | James, son of Zebedee |
| Saint day | 25 July |
| Website | Official website |
Rocca Grimalda (Ra Roca in dialect) is a village and comune in the Province of Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy. It lies in Alto Monferrato, an historical region of Piedmont, and it was built upon a rocky hill on the Orba's left bank. It is very close to Ovada and very easy to reach through the highway and Cristoforo Colombo Airport in Genoa.
The old populations who lived here before the Romans, the so-called Ligures, left a number of traces in many places of Orba valley but especially in Rocca Grimalda: the river has always had gold in its sand and during the Roman times, a town was built in the plain under the hill in order to exploit this resource: old documents report about this centre, called Rondinaria, which was a wealthy little town in the middle of thick forests and had likely some sort of defence structure, probably on Rocca Grimalda's hill, which still dominates the whole plain around and the valley’s entrance.
Right in the plain an old necropolis was found in the 1980s but on the other side of the village’s land another high rocky hill was found to have been shaped as some sort of castle with a deep ditch and high palisades, probably from the Longobard time: the same place, called “Trionzo”, was linked with old legends of witches, dances and evil spirits.
The village’s existence was first stated in some documents of 900 and since then Rocca Grimalda changed a number of landlords while conquerors came from the see and from the plains: the powerful Republic of Genoa, the free town of Alessandria, the dukedoms of Monferrato and Milan fought for centuries in order to have the control of this strategic stronghold.
But Rocca Grimalda’s real rulers were the bandit families from the beginning of 1700 until 1800: they used the thick forests around the village to hide and rob the passers by. Rocca Grimalda got famous for its guns and long knives while no landlord managed to control them, also because they had strong support from people, traditionally against the official rulers coming from other places. During the 18th century everything changed, the forest was replaced by vineyards, only some little pieces survived as parks of noble mansions.
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Wikipedia