 Located along a line of transit between the Po Valley and Savona harbour, the village has suffered the passage of armies involved in the Thirty Years' War (Battle of Mombaldone between France-Savoy and Spain, 1637) and the first Campaign of Italy (Campaigns of 1796 in the French Revolutionary Wars) of Napoleon Bonaparte.During World War II, the municipal territory was an area of military activities against German and Italian Social Republic troops by the Italian resistance movement.Montechiaro has been the adopted homeland and "buen ritiro" of some great painters of the 20th century (Eso Peluzzi, Caffassi).