Costigliole d'Asti - Motta

Already before 1400, along the right bank of the river Tanaro, stood a large farmhouse adjacent to the ancient Castle belonged to the noblest families in the area: the Laiolo of Asti, the Asinari, the Verasis and the Medici. Within the enclosure of the farmsteads around the Castle, in the mid-1600s, Count Gerolamo Verasis built a small oratory dedicated to Saint Francis from Sales, in which masses began to be celebrated on public holidays.

Over time the village of Motta, so called since 1500, developed and the population, which had gone to settle right around the Castle cultivating the lands, could enjoy the stability and protection guaranteed by the Verasis. They, in fact, in case of enemy invasions, provided them shelter inside their property. Around 1800 the properties of the Countryside began to be sold to the peasants of Motta who in 1950 came to own the total property. The construction of houses, the rise of commercial, craft and tourist activities, always in combination with the successful production of peppers led Motta to a great transformation, thanks to the construction, in 1870, of the Asti-Bra railway line. Precisely to this great development is due the ironic nickname of Little California, attributed to the village.

Motta was later made famous thanks to the healing power of its sulphurous waters, provided by special hotel facilities that enlivened the stay of many customers combining the care to music and dance. Carluccio Strocco, owner of the famous Fonte Margherita, even made some nice promotional postcards illustrated with the healing therapies and effects of the purgative waters of Motta.