Altitude: 370 m a.s.l.
Area: 14 sq km
Distance from Imperia: 16 km
Inhabitants: in 1881: 1007 - in 2017: 574
Patron Saint Day: December 26th - Santo Stefano
Information: Municipality phone 0183 52415
Made up by the three hamlets of "Castello", "Villa" and "Gerini", Chiusanico was the capital of the territory subject to the government of the castle of Monte Arosio.
On the basis of a suggestive hypothesis not yet confirmed from an archaeological point of view, the town, together with Lucinasco and the nearby Chiusavecchia, would have constituted, around the seventh century, a "Byzantine valley lock", i.e. a system of towers and fortifications destined to be a defense against the advance of the Longobards.
At the end of the fifteenth century it is also worth mentioning the attestation, in numerous documents, of a certain Christopher Columbus native of Chiusanico who presents significant similarities with the discoverer of America.
In particular, from the deeds drawn up by the notary Gaspare Ardizone dating back to the end of the fifteenth century but coming only in seventeenth-century copies, it would appear that Domenico Colombo, Cristoforo's father, his father Giovanni and his brother Bernardo, were originally from the "Place of Plausanico, Castellania of Monteroso, Valley of Oneglia "; to further support the thesis of the Chiusanico origin of Columbus there are also two documents, preserved in the State Archive of Genoa and consisting of a will dated 1477, with which Giovanni Colombo from Chiusanico left his property to his two sons Domenico and Bernardino and 25 “scudi” (the currency of that time) to his nephew Cristoforo, son of Domenico; and of a deed of sale of 1468 with which Domenico Colombo ceded the assets he owned in Chiusanico to his brother Bernardo, since he had meanwhile transferred to Savona with his sons Cristoforo, Bartolomeo and Giovanni.
From the names mentioned in these two acts, drawn up by the notary Antonio Sibotallone, it is clear that there is an almost identical correspondence of the people mentioned in these documents with those appearing in the Genoese Colombo family tree, with the difference that the Christopher of Chiusanico was already born in 1447, while the Genoese Christopher was born in 1451.
The Columbus of Chiusanico tradition still remains particularly vivid in the town, which has preserved it for centuries despite the uncertainty still reigning today among historians on the real origins of the seafarer.
His origins are disputed by various Italian and foreign cities together with Genoa, which however can objectively assert its rights as the birthplace of Columbus on an ancient and consolidated tradition of studies and documents, now recognized by the international scientific community.
Formerly under the dominion of the bishop of Albenga, in 1298 it passed to the Dorias and then in the sixteenth century to the Savoys who gave it to the Gandolfi family as a fief, retaining since then its dominion.
Visit of the town
At the beginning of the town stands the parish church of Santo Stefano on the right, built in the fifteenth century but later rebuilt by the architect Cantoni in the early nineteenth century, which keeps the "Santo Stefano" polyptych by Giulio De Rossi behind the high altar (1580-82).
In the first altar on the right there is -affixed at the bottom left- a Greek cross marble plaque with a dove carved on it, which would show, as well as the coat of arms with a dove repeated in the capitals of the lateral columns of this same altar, that the discoverer of the Americas was from these places (note: the original Italian name of Columbus is Colombo, which means “dove”); in any case in the village they have dedicated a road to him.
To the right of the stairway leading up to the church, branches off the concrete ramp which then continues on a good dirt road that in just over a kilometer takes to the Oratory of San Lorenzo.
The building, now abandoned among the olive trees, was built around the 12th century; on the front side of the two pillars of the portico are incorporated at the top two ashlars carved respectively with a rooster and a lamb.
From the keyhole you can peek inside the simple construction with a trussed roof, stone benches along the walls and an altar in inlaid marbles partly removed by thieves, who also took away the bell from the roof of the church.
Back by car to the Provincial Road, to visit the village continue for another three hundred meters and then take the ramp on the right that leads you to the tree-lined parking lot.
From there walk to the side of the church going up Via dei Principi up to the shelter, decorated with two aedicules, just beyond which the wide Municipal Loggia opens up on the right with stone column chunks on the ground.
Continuing along Via al Castello you’ll reach the cute little square of the same name with black and white cobblestones, a beautiful thirteen-century portal on the right and a modern sundial, and continuing along the alley that branches off from the fountain with drinking trough, pass under the stone arch of the walls’ gate; about ten meters after, affixed on the façade of the house on the right, you’ll find a carved plaque with a beautiful archaic bas-relief.
The small church of Sant'Anna rises on the widening above, built on the rock and supported by lateral buttresses, with a discolored sundial on the facade and a small bell tower.
Back to the car continue along this detour reaching Torria, where you can park in the churchyard.
Around it runs the enclosure with fragments of columns surmounted by a stone ball of the original church of San Martino, later rebuilt in Baroque style with the extension of the facade and the apse to become the side walls of the new larger building.
The original façade is thus today incorporated into the left wall which preserves its beautiful black stone portal dated 10 March 1477, with a bas-relief depicting St. Martin on horseback; with the sword he cuts his cloak to give half of it to a poor man; on the same wall there is also a rather deteriorated sundial.
The new bare facade is decorated with a marble bas-relief with the same scene and another one carved with a Trigram.
In the sacristy there are four curious seventeenth-century paintings, originally portraits of lay people, probably of the Doria family, in whose hands in the eighteenth century was painted the palm of martyrdom to transform them into saints Cosma, Damiano, Faustino and Giovita.
To the left of the church rises the abandoned oratory of San Giovanni, in whose portico the frescoes are falling into disrepair; next to it is the massive oratory of the Annunciation built in 1727 by the architect Marvaldi from Candeasco, near which branches off Via Piave that you’ll take.
Reach Piazza Brigate Liguria where, just beyond the beautiful stone portal of 1656, at number 31 there is the beautiful sixteenth-century Municipal Loggia supported by black stone low columns of different workmanship, which houses the fountain-trough; on the wall there is a sundial.
Continuing along Via Gandolfo, after noticing on the left the beautiful stone arch on Via Paganini, you’ll find a loggia built on the bare rock and a house with a stone portal and finally, at the widening with a fountain, a sixteenth-century house with a stone portal disfigured by a concrete slab.
An ancient tradition of the village consisted in the so-called “pastun”, which took place on Holy Thursday in memory of the Last Supper by the Confraternity of San Giovanni Battista; it was a dinner with a pre-determined menu for men only (which consisted of 1 anchovy in salt, 3 fried anchovies, “mostaccioli” pasta seasoned with a special vegetable sauce, stockfish “buridda”, boiled stockfish seasoned with oil, salt, parsley and garlic, and finally salted codfish floured and fried in olive oil). At the end of the meal they all sang the “Oremus".
Back to the car, you can make a short detour by taking the road that branches off behind the apse of the church and that takes you in a few kilometers to the Santuario della Vergine Addolorata, built on the remains of a medieval church.
Then, back on State Road 28, take the left and in 7 kilometers, among olive trees, you will arrive to Lucinasco.