It takes its name from the medieval stronghold that dominates it, and which once belonged to the noble Bun?is family. Its northern part is today still referred to, in dialect, as the Val del Temp (which means Valley of the Temple) because the Templars had properties there, as testified by the Codex Astensis, the only authenticated record of events in Asti during the Middle Ages. The last surviving member of the Bun?is family left the estate in his will to the Bishop of Acqui who often summered there in the 18th century.