The first to be called Malaspina was Alberto, a direct descendant of Oberto, progenitor of the noble and illustrious Obertenghi family (945 AD). Theories and legends are wasted on the origin of this name. One of these, illustrated in a painting preserved in a room of the castle, traces its origin to the year 540 AD when the young noble Accino Marzio avenged the death of his father by surprising the king of the Franks Teodoboerto in his sleep and piercing him in the throat with a plug. The desperate cry of the king “Ah! bad thorn! ” gave rise to the surname and, later, to the family motto “Sum mala spina bonis, sum bona spina malis”.