Old documents report about this centre, called Rondinaria, which was a wealthy little town in the middle of thick forests and had likely some sort of defence structure, probably on Rocca Grimalda's hill, which still dominates the whole plain around and the valley’s entrance.

The village’s existence was first stated in some documents of 900 and since then Rocca Grimalda changed a number of landlords while conquerors came from the see and from the plains: the Republic of Genoa, the free town of Alessandria, the duchies of Montferrat and Milan fought for centuries in order to have the control of this strategic stronghold.

Rocca Grimalda got famous for its guns and long knives while no landlord managed to control them, also because they had strong support from people, traditionally against the official rulers coming from other places.

From the 1990s the village is living a new renaissance, both in economy and in society, basing its own wealthy on great wines, as “Dolcetto di Ovada” and “Barbera del Monferrato”, tasty food and historical places, which attract tourists from all over the world.

The Parish Church, San Giacomo Maggiore, a building of Romanesque origin in the centre of the village, is decorated with paintings about St. John Bapt's life.

Inside there are frescos of the 15th century but other parts of the building were added later on, when the church turned into some sort of sanctuary for the muleteers who used to carry goods from the sea to the plains and back, through the mountains.