The Municipality is made up of five neighbourhoods. Going from north to south, the first you come across is Villa Soprana, where the Church dedicated to the Patron Saint, San Michele Arcangelo, is located. Then there is Villa Lisamara, where you can admire the Old Fountain, which is still in use today. You then come across Villa Stana and, subsequently, Villa Scribione, where the Town Hall is located. The last is Villa Fontana, at the foot of the castle.

From Villa Fontana you arrive at the Malaspina castle, of which only a few sections of walls and a cylindrical tower (restored) remain. Originally, it was a fortification of the Ligurians, who fought the Romans for a long time, which is demonstrated by the eight bronze armillae (bracelets) found here, currently preserved in the Archaeological Museum of the Sforzesco Castle in Milan. The strategic position, which dominates the Trebbia and Boreca valleys, induced the Ligurians to build a series of fortifications in turn connected with others in the Ligurian-Emilian Apennines, so as to form a defensive line that protected them from the Roman invasions. Of this defensive line of fortifications, Zerba was considered among the most important.

With regrds to the Middle Ages, we know that Emperor Frederick I granted the territory of Zerba to the Malaspina family. In 1361, Azzo and Federico Malaspina, sons of Alberto, marquis of Pregola, donated the castle to the lord of Milan, who, in 1367, gave it as a fief to Simone di Novanton, a Savoyard, known as “the Green Squire”. He conspired against the Duke and was beheaded in 1371. In 1404, the Malaspina family of Pregola took back Zerba and Pej, including the castle. In 1453, the castle passed to the Marquis Moroello Malaspina, whose descendants held it until 1670.

The castle was never a real manor. We know that, around the middle of the 17th century, the feudal lords lived in a house-fort located in the upper part of the town, called “Caminata” from the underground tunnel that connected the palace to the tower, to be used by the feudal lords in case of danger.

The church is located in Cerreto, a hamlet of Zerba, within the town centre, and is preceded by a small stone churchyard. The church was built in the 17th century. The façade is gabled, surmounted by a triangular pediment, interrupted in the centre by a vaulted attic, closed by two pilasters supporting a pediment. In the Middle Ages, it was a monastic cell dependent on the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro in Pavia. All around you can admire the characteristic stone houses.

The hamlet of Cerreto is represented by characteristic stone houses and the church of San Rocco, included in the Diocese of Tortona. In the hamlet there is an ancient mill of unspecified foundation which ground chestnut flour and, for a certain period, in the 1950s, an electric turbine was installed. It is a particular construction, with a curved shape. It has currently been renovated and has been incorporated into a privately owned building which operates as a B&B.

The hamlet of Pey is the highest village in the valley (1193 m above sea level) and enjoys a fascinating panorama. Pey’s signature feature is nature, with waterfalls and fiery red beech trees exploding in autumn. Here there is the church of San Nicola Da Bari and a private peasant museum. Here you can stay in a hotel from the 1920s and pray in the Chiesetta degli Alpini, dedicated to the Madonna della Salute.

Nature, with its colours and sounds, has something to offer in every season of the year: from the white tending towards pink of the wild cherry trees in spring, to the foliage in autumn. Above 1200 metres, vast meadows of flowers and shrubs open up: orchids, yellow lilies and gentians, raspberries, blueberries and woodcutter’s broom. Zerba is surrounded by the highest peaks of the Apennines: Alfeo (1650 m), Cavalmurone (1670 m), Chiappo (1700 m) and Tartago (1688 m). The paths to venture into these mountains are well preserved.

The floor of the valley, however, is dominated by overhangs over the Boreca river.