The village
Millesimo was a major centre of the upper Val Bormida, capital of the Del Carretto family. The village of Roman origins, on the path of Via Aemilia Scauri, is part of the circuit of the most beautiful villages of Italy, for the characteristic fabric of its old town and important architectural examples of feudalism developed in the 13th Century. Millesimo’s symbol is the Gaietta bridge, a rare and unique example of a fortified structure with a watchtower used as a gateway to the inhabited centre. On the hills, it dominates the castle with bastion towers, at the foot of which the Napoleonic Museum stands, featuring banners of battles and documents related to the campaign of Italy, carried out by Napoleon, who experienced a famous victory here.
The history
The village of Millesimo probably developed as an outpost of the Roman Empire, thanks to its strategic location on the territory. During the 10th Century, the Saracens were located nearby, and in that period the two toponyms of Melesino and Plebem Melosine were originated, the latter being quoted in an imperial diploma of 917. In 967, it was included in the Marca Aleramica. In the 12th Century, it became part of the Marca of Savona, which in 1162 became feud of Henry del Vasto, the founder of the Del Carretto family. His son, Henry II Del Carretto, Marquis of Finale, raised the new hamlet with walls and castle, near the crossing of Bormida of Millesimo with the Gaietta Bridge, a strategic and important source of toll collection. The walls were erected in 1206, the conventional date for the foundation of Millesimo, and from here on it started the economic and social development of the area, to which the Marquises had granted statutes and privileges from 1240, the oldest of the Val Bormida. In 1268, the three grandchildren of Henry II divided the Marquisate of Finale into three parties and Millesimo became the feudal part of Marquis Corrado I. In 1447, the Del Carretto family of the Val Bormida were involved in the war that Genoa initiated against the lords of Finale, so that the lords of Millesimo had to Recognize Asti's superiority. The Angevin presence in the Marquisate of Ceva and in the Asti region after 1387 led the lords of Millesimo to accept being vassals of the Marquis of Monferrato for most of the lands they possessed. On June 3, 1390, Bonifacio and his four sons disposed the previously allocated territories . With the investiture of 1536 by Charles V to Otto II Del Carretto, Millesimo returned to be a direct imperial feud, although from 1577 it was also subjected to Spanish domination and from 1517 Altare, Roccavignale and Carcare had been detached from Millesimo and given as feud to poet and historian Galeotto del Carretto and his heirs (however, in 1564 Carcare was transmitted to Del Carretto of Finale, together with Pallare, Osiglia, Calizzano and Massimino). The feud was often suspended, as referred to in sixteenth-eighteenth-Century atlases with the name "Marquisate of Del Carretto", by the name of the dynasty that held it. It followed the domination of the Austrians until the sale to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which took place in 1713 for the part assigned to the Marquis of Monferrato and in 1735, with the Peace of Vienna, for the part directly dependent on the Empire. On April 13, 1796, after a bloody battle, Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the troops of the Austro-Sardinian army in the famous Battle of Cosseria, opening, with this win, a breach in the land between Liguria and Low Piedmont. In the armed conflict there were more than three thousand soldiers and as many were injured. With French domination, the territory of Millesimo came back on December 2, 1797 in the Department of Letimbro, with capital Savona, within the Ligurian Republic. Since April 28, 1798, with the new French ordinances, it has returned to the 9th Canton, with Bormida as capital, under the Arene Candide Jurisdiction and in 1803it has become the main centre of the 8th Canton of the Western Bormida in the Columbus Jurisdiction. Associated with the First French Empire since 13 June 1805 to 1814, it was included in the Department of Montenotte. In the night between 16 and 17 August 1809, Pope Pius II, a prisoner of Bonaparte, was hosted in the municipal palace. In 1815 it was incorporated in the Kingdom of Sardinia and later in the Kingdom of Italy since 1861.
