Lerma

Lerma begins in 1166: in an attempt to retake Parodi castle, Rondinaria was destroyed and the survivors climbed the steep ridge above the Piota valley. The place was called Erma, from hermit, for its remoteness. It also has an exclave between Bosio, Casaleggio Boiro and Tagliolo Monferrato.

The castle the Spinola rebuilt in 1499 stands sheer above the Piota and in the town's arms: red roofs on a green hill; round it runs the ricetto, a walled village with one gate. In the Thirty Years' War twenty-eight men and their women held off, with boiling water, arrows and stones, the fifteen hundred Spanish soldiers sent against the Spinola: they surrendered, but on honourable terms.