E. De Felice and E. Rossoni agree that the surname was formed from place names of the Rivalta and Rivolta type, very diffused in the north and centre-north of Italy.

De Felice enumerates the place names Rivalta, present in the provinces of Turin, Cuneo, Alessandria, Piacenza, Mantua, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Verona, among others, and Rivolta, in the provinces of Milan and Brescia (Rivolta d'Adda, in the province of Cremona). He specifies that Rivolta is a regional variant of Rivalta, whose medieval forms are Ripalta, derived from ripa ("high bank").

Rossoni cites as examples Rivalta (in the Reggio Emilia area), Rivalta Bormida (in the Alessandria area), Rivalta di Torino, Rivolta d'Adda (in the Cremona area) and Rivalta sul Mincio (in the Mantua area). He notes that the transformation into a surname began as an identifier of the locality of origin and is recorded in 1235 in Mantua with the consul Ubaldo da Rivalta.

Rossoni further distinguishes the forms: Rivalta is quite rare and seems to have two areas, in the Ravenna and Turin areas; Rivolta is typically Lombard.