Villa San Secondo

Villa San Secondo sits in the Val Rilate hills near Asti. From the late sixteenth century to the early eighteenth it belonged to the Gonzaga, dukes of Mantua, who made it a comital fief. Its arms carry neither towers nor animals, but Justice enthroned on a red field, crowned, with scales and sceptre.

A church is recorded here as early as 1153, the plebs de Covatio, on the site of today's cemetery. The parish church of Santi Matteo e Secondo, also called Santi Matteo e Carlo, has a brick bell tower with a clock; in 1930 lightning struck it, and the belfry and its onion spire were rebuilt to a design by Alfonso Chioccarello.