Legend has it that a Lombard king (perhaps Liutprand) in the 8th century built the abbey of San Salvatore di Visiovalla (Visiovallis), in the area now called "Valla", giving it to the monks of Bobbio. Moriondo in Monumenta Aquensia recalls that said abbey was destroyed by the "perfidious Saracen people" during an incursion towards the middle of the 10th century; other Saracen incursions occurred between 889 and 920 and again in 970. Nothing remains of this abbey except a bas-relief walled into a balustrade of the local parish church (representing a pelican). The village was therefore included in the Marca Aleramica from 10th century and, having become the possession of Bonifacio del Vasto in 1091, was equipped with a castle for the defense of the town; in 1142 it became a feudal dominion of the Del Carretto family.
In the following centuries the territory changed noble owners several times: from the marquises of Ponzone in 1327, from the marquises of Monferrato in 1444, from the Genoese Spinola family during the 16th century, from the other Genoese Imperial family and finally from the San Martino di Agliè.
In 1738 it passed under the Kingdom of Sardinia, following its fate until the unification of Italy.