An agricultural center on the upper Bormida, in the middle of a valley dominated by Monte Alto (956 meters or 3137 feet). A possession of the Del Carretto since the twelfth century, it was ceded in 1393 to the marchesi di Monferrato, who then invested the Del Carretto themselves with the fief. The late sixteenth-century parish church of San Nicolò was built in 1570. The former abbey of Santa Maria, at the locality of Fornelli, is much older, dating from 1179: it is in a Gothic-Lombard style, with a nave and two aisles and tunnel vault, and has traces of frescoes. Also of medieval origin is the shrine of Nostra Signora della Misericordia, at the locality of Eremita, built on top of a pagan temple but renovated and enlarged in the baroque period. There are also the remains of two castles that used to control access to the San Giacomo pass for Finale: the Castello del Carruggio and the Castello del Miele.