Sala Monferrato: sights, history and trails

The village is located in the heart of the wine landscape of the Monferrato classified in 2014 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique historical and landscape with Langhe and Roero (territory).

The hilly area of Basso Monferrato in which the village is located, between Casale Monferrato And Alessandria, is the continuation of the Apennine chain and is formed by marine sediments that were deposited during the Miocene, when the area was still partially covered by the sea.

The use of the "Pietra da Cantoni" has been widespread throughout the territory since the year one thousand, formed by limestone and marnose sea layers dating to Burdigaliano-Langhiano (from 20 to 14 million years ago), for the construction of private and public buildings and, thanks to geological configuration, the realization of traditional Infernot, small underground spaces dug into the rock, used to store and preserve wines and foods.

The village, located in a panoramic position on the apex of a hill, has developed over the centuries around the oldest part of the Lombard period of the castle, according to the structure of the reception, that is the medieval grouping of houses defended by turbulent walls where the inhabitants of the countryside were gathered in case of danger.

At the center of the conflicting territorial ambitions of the bishops of Asti and Vercelli, Sala passed to Marchesato del Monferrato by Federico Barbarossa in 1164. In the second half of the fourteenth century, the village was granted to Guglielmo Bava’s trade mark chancellor, called “Bogerio della Sala”, and in the following centuries it was erected by a consortium of noble families. In the first decades of the 17th century, the president of the Ducal Maestrate of Monferrato attested that the fine wines produced in Sala were very appreciated at the Mantuan court of Gonzaga and the ancient past, the country retained its vocation to viticulture and winemaking.

In the 17th century, during the succession war of Monferrato, the territory was occupied alternately by French and Spanish. Between the end of the seventeenth century and the first decades of the eighteenth century, Savoy hegemony was consolidated on the region, and Sala, as well as the other nearby centers, became part of the Savoy kingdom, which from then on followed the events.

The economy of the municipality is mainly based on viticulture and wine making, in particular on the production of Barbera, Grignolino, Freisa, Cortese and Malvasia as from characteristics of the territory, so as to count six producers on site and as many cellars open to wine tasting.

Wine and local products such as the artisan production of Muletta Monferrina, the typical fine salami of the territory, are bringing to the increasing interest in the village on the front of food-and-wine tourism, which is flanked by the increasingly marked agricultural activity to the dictates of sustainable agriculture, thanks to the progressive limitation of chemical herbicides and plant protection.

Despite the important demographic decline that over the last 100 years has progressively hit all Italian villages including Sala, today (2022) the municipality counts 330 inhabitants and shows small signs of recovery thanks to eight new births from 2019.

Inhabitants registered^[6]

Below is a table relating to the administrations that have succeeded one another in this municipality.

• 
  Historical archive, already municipal oven
• 
  Castello di Sala Monferrato
• 
  Castle facade
• 
  Church of San Giacomo
• 
  Town Hall of Sala Monferrato