The complex was built between 1517 and 1531 by order of Alessandro Feruffino, captain of the militia of Duke Alfonso I d'Este, on the lands of the estate called "La Motta" from the presence of a mass of earth, in jargon "mota", possessions that came to him as a dowry from his wife Caterina Machiavelli dalle Frutta, heir of that Gaspare to whom Duke Ercole I sold them in 1496.
Upon the death of Feruffino, with a will dated 1536, the first document to name it "palace", the property passed to his daughter Ippolita, married to Federico Quals, known as Qualno, of Mantua and from him to their daughter Fiordimonte Quaina, wife of Giovan Francesco Nigrisoli. In 1622 the Gualengo family took over, remaining owners until 1653, when, in the absence of a male heir, the Mensa Arcivescovile assigned the complex to Cardinal Carlo Pio of Savoy and, after his death, in 1689, to his heirs: Prince Luigi and his nephew Francesco.
In 1776, due to the extinction of the family, the site passed to the Falcò family and then, during the French domination, to the Public Administration; after a series of further changes, in 1872 it became the property of the "Società Bonifiche Terreni Ferraresi".
The palace alone was then sold, in 1914, to the Monesi family and from them to the Matteucci construction company which, in May 2009, sold it to the Municipality of Tresigallo which promptly began the recovery and enhancement intervention.
