The town’s name brings us back to pre-Latin times, as reliable sources and archaeological finds provide evidence of the presence of the Ligurians throughout the valley of the Staggora, its suffix "asco" being considered of Ligurian origin. The position of the settlement situated on the “Salt Route” ("Via del Sale") connecting Liguria and Lombardy – yet another element linking up this piece of land with the Ligurians – which facilitated trade. The oldest document mentioning Godiasco Salice Terme is a Diploma dating from 1164 issued by Frederick I investing Marquis Obizzo Malaspina with Godiasco Salice Terme. Apart from a few brief interruptions, their domination ended in 1753 with Giuseppe Antonio Malaspina. In 1512, Giovanni De’ Medici, who later became Leon X, stayed in the castle that is now almost entirely destroyed, after his escape from Ravenna. He had been made prisoner by the French and freed while crossing the Po, between Cairo and Pieve del Cairo by Rinaldo Zozzo and Ottaviano Isimbardi on 7th July. Barnabò Malaspina, the lord of Godiasco, who aided the escape and hosted the Cardinal De’ Medici, was taken to Voghera on the eve of St. Matthew and publicly quartered while still alive, by command of the Duke of Milan, Massimiliano Sforza. Cardinal Alberoni, who also escaped from Spain in December 1719 and had to hide, found shelter in the castle of Godiasco Salice Terme and remained under its protection until he was able to reach his native Piacenza. A few kilometres away from the town centre there is Salice Terme, a thermal spa called "locum salis" in Roman times. It later became Sales, due to the thermal springs containing sodium chloride, bromide, and iodide, which is still active, leaving reddish saline efflorescence on the ground. The first records of a thermal spa date back to 1153, when the church of St. Barolomeo, the castle of Monte Alfeo with the church of Saint Mary and the little church of Sarzi (built in 1000) were confirmed at the abbey of St Marziano in Tortona. Places of interest • Church of San Siro (Godiasco) • Spa (Salice)