 In ancient times the area of Castiglione probably marked the border between the Ligurian and the Etruscan cultures.the modern "frazione" of Velva was a Roman "municipium" during Trajans reign.The Val Petronio was colonized by Benedictine monks after the fall of the Western Roman Empire; later it became a possession of the Fieschi family who, in 1276, sold Castiglione to the Republic of Genoa.