At over 450 metres above sea level, Cremolino’s castle is the highest in the Alto Monferrato. From here, 14 of the 28 nearby castles can be seen; in fact this is one of areas with the highest density of castles per square kilometre in Europe.

The castle was built in the late 13th century, around a tower that dates from the year 1000, by Tommaso Malaspina, who inherited the estate from his mother Agnese, the last heir of the Aleramici Del Bosco marquises.

When the Malaspina line of Cremolino died out at the end of the 15th century, the castle was enfeoffed by the Marquis of Monferrato to the Sauli and Centurione families from Genoa, and from the mid-16th century to the Dorias. At the end of the 18th century it passed by marriage from them to the Serra marquises of Genoa.

Thanks partly to its triple band of walls, the castle was never conquered and as a result its medieval character, with the drawbridge, 14th-century tower and mighty 15th-century keep, has been preserved intact. The bastions of this medieval fortress look out over one of the most beautiful views of the Alto Monferrato and the Alps.

The owners live permanently in the castle, which is surrounded by a 19th-century park of tall trees, boxwood topiary, roses, hydrangeas and fish ponds full of water-lilies.