Altitude: 140 m a.s.l.
Area: 3 sq km
Distance from Imperia: 13 km
Inhabitants: in 1881: 687 - in 2017: 556
Patron Saint Day: February 3rd - San Biagio
Information: Municipality phone 0183 52406
Chiusavecchia was for centuries a border area between the Upper Oneglia Valley and the Maro Valley and today constitutes the watershed between the rich economy of the coast and the far poorer one of the hinterland.
The toponym "Chiusa" could be intended either as a hydraulic barrier or as a fortified barrage, erected in the Byzantine period and broken through by the Longobards around 600 AD. Historically it has always followed the events of Oneglia.
Visit of the town
At the beginning of the built-up area the road leading to Santuario dell'Oliveto, built in 1554 and later completely rebuilt in Baroque style, branches off to the right.
Returning to the State Road 28 take on the left the narrow ramp that descends to the village and park at the widening, reaching then on foot a little further on the overhanging church of San Biagio and San Francesco di Sales, rebuilt in 1683 on the original church -used today as a sacristy- of which traces remain even in the bell tower; the interior preserves behind the high altar the splendid recently recovered Crucifix, and anonymous seventeenth-century paintings: on the left altar there is a "Madonna del Carmine" and on the right one the polyptych "Misteri del Rosario".
Leaving the church and going back down the street, continue on foot observing, to the right of the fountain with a massive stone basin, the archaic stone house faced by a roof terrace and, further on at number 25, the window-door of an ancient shop; on the opposite side of the road there is another archaic house at the end of the descent, with the thin stone arch of the access stairway on the right, and the two pierced “ciappe” (stones) that supported the horizontal pivot of a pulley vertically affixed on the wall overlooking the river.
In Chiusavecchia there is also a renovated building called "Mulino di Roccanegra" where cultural events take place.
Returning to the car, retrace this same road ending up into State Road 28 a little further on, from where you can turn right at the crossroads towards Chiusanico.