Monforte d’Alba has very ancient origins: the first human settlements in fact, have been dated back to the distant Neolithic, but the first civilization to exploit its 528 meters above sea level and its strategic position was the Roman one. Mons-Fortis in fact was part of the historic Langa route “Via Magistra Langarum” that connected Liguria Millesimo with the Aurelia.

The Cathar castle located on the rock of the town, conquered in 1028, had origins prior to the year 1000 and passed, after the Inquisition, to the diocese of Asti. Next to it they built the church “Sancta Maria de Castro” demolished in 1900 for the construction of the new structure located in the new lower village by Monsignor Dallorto (1912).

From Bonifacio, Marquis of Cortemilia, the town passed to the Del Carretto family in 1218, the first of a series of contenders: Charles of Anjou (1254), De Brayda (1266) and Visconti (1348). Attacked and destroyed, the castle underwent a profound transformation with the intervention of the Marquis Alberto Scarampi (in control thanks to marriages with the family of Charles Emmanuel III, Duke of Savoy in 1733) who in 1869 gave it its current appearance of a noble residence.