The Town of Albenga:

Piazza S. Michele is the heart of the historical centre. The Cathedral, that overlooks the square, contains a few interesting works of art and a monumental nineteenth century organ. Its bell tower is considered one of the most remarkable monuments of the late Gothic style in Liguria.

Only a few metres far, stand the Baptistery, intact from the 5th century, and built on an external decagonal plan and the medieval complex of  Palazzo Vecchio del Comune with its suggestive tower, dating back to the end of the 4th century. In this buildings stands the civic museum of Albenga.

On their side raises the Tower of the municipality, which used to be the seat of the ancient prison. Piazzetta Dei Leoni, right on the back of the apse of the cathedral, is dominated by the sixteenth-century Palazzo Costa (nowadays the Bishop’s palace) and from the homonymous embattled tower.

The name of  the square is due to the three stony lions that Costa Family brought from Rome in 1608. Always closed to the centre, you can find Piazza Girolamo Rossi, surrounded by few medieval buildings among which stands out, still intact, a fourteenth century house and the important Via Bernardo Ricci which still keeps its ancient medieval look.

The decorated lounges of Palazzo Peloso Cepolla are worth visiting, being also the seat of the important Roman Naval Museum. The ex-Bishop Palace has turned into the diocesan museum which contains paintings, illuminations and sixteenth-century tapestries.

 

HISTORICAL NOTES:

Albenga’s historical centre is the best preserved of the west Riviera, remaining still intact from the Middle Age. “Albium Ingaunum” was found in the 5th century B.C. and represented the main town of the Liguri Ingauni people: it formed an alliance with Carthage during the second Punic War and was, for a long time, a proud and bold enemy of Rome. Finally defeated in 181 B.C., the town became a roman “municipum” and enjoyed a few centuries of prosperity.

Afterwards, it underwent the destructions of Visigoths and Vandals people, the Longobard occupation and the dark period of the Saracen invasions. From the 10th Century, Albingana started to recover and finally became a free municipality during the 11th Century. Starting from the 1st Crusade in 1098, and even more during next ones, the town revealed its military and organizational power which stood at heart of two centuries of prosperity and political vitality.

For a century, Albenga remains a florid and dynamic centre; the situation changes from 1300, because of the wars between Guelph and Ghibelline parties and plague epidemics; moreover the floods of the Centa river make the zone unhealthy and this fact contributes to the decline of the centre. Only from last century, the land reclamation and the immigration of many Genoese families created the conditions for anew process of development .
Nowadays, Albenga is one of the main town of west Liguria representing the commercial heart of an area rich of activities and an interesting tourist destination.