Altitude: 281 m a.s.l.
Area: 54 sq km
Distance from Imperia: 58 km
Inhabitants:
- in 1881: 3421
- in 2017: 869
Patron Saint Day: September 29th - St. Michael the Archangel
Information: Municipality tel. 0184 241016
Formerly a domain of the Counts of Ventimiglia, in 1262 Pigna passed to the County of Nice under the Counts of Anjou who in 1338 sold it to the Savoys.
The village thus assumed an important strategic function, marking the border between the domains of the Savoys and those of the Republic of Genoa, which had its stronghold in nearby Castelfranco (today Castelvittorio) beyond the Nervia; in the great war of 1625 Pigna was briefly occupied by the Genoese but returned definitively to the Savoys in 1633.
Visit of the town
By adapting to the level curves of the hill on which it stands, the town developed in concentric circles which make it one of the most significant examples of a medieval village.
Arriving to Pigna, about five hundred meters after the sign indicating the inhabited area, you’ll see two large yellow-pink painted houses on the left side of the road; behind the first lower one, there is the open space where are falling apart the ruins of the church of San Tommaso, a 12th century Romanesque building with three naves whose facade, with two round arched stone portals and oculus at the top, left wall perforated by very narrow single lancet windows, left nave with pointed arches, and part of the apses have remained standing; the vast crypt below waits to be explored before everything collapses on it.
Returning to the car, continue on the provincial road, going around almost the whole town until you reach the pharmacy and take the ramp that goes up to the left, leading to the vast parking lot from which you can go up on foot.
After reaching the small open space before the vault, go down the short staircase to the left that leads to the Ethnographic Museum of the Pigna civilization (Museo Etnografico della Civiltà Pignasca) in which three rooms exhibit vintage agricultural and artisan tools.
After passing the vault observe the stone pilasters on the right wall of the parish church, on which opens a window with a deteriorated architrave and large jambs carved with floral motifs, and then proceed to the left through the passage on which an architrave carved with a Trigram between heraldic shields is affixed; you have thus entered the large Loggia of Piazza Vecchia, the meeting place of the medieval Parliament and the seat of the Banco della Ragione, paved in river pebbles with massive stone seats all around.
The cross vaults are supported by a pillar and two beautiful black stone columns, of which the central one with a carved capital; on the right the semicircular stone staircase climbs to the side door of the church with a pointed stone arch; of the roof that protected it remained on the left a part of the stone support shelf.
On the left, under the arch of the loggia, two steps up you’ll find a monolithic architrave and another one carved with a floral decoration; at the entrance of Via Roma are embedded to the left on the ground the three archaic stone basins which were the official units of measure for wine, oil and wheat of the Banco della Ragione; on the wall in front of you is embedded a beautiful stone capital from the original thirteenth-century church which still has on the outside, on the inclined part of the base to the left of the entrance door, about a meter from the ground, the "cannella", here made with nails fixed in the stone up to the head at the distance of a "palm" from each other.
From the loggia go right to reach the most grandiose testimony of late Middle Ages architecture in the Ventimiglia area of Liguria: the church of San Michele, which harmoniously integrates the traditional 14th century elements with the innovations brought by the Renaissance. The original construction was erected in the thirteenth century, but was later completely rebuilt in 1450 in massive stone blocks in the form of a three-nave basilica.
The façade is dominated by the splendid Gothic rose window: a hippogriff, masks, cherubs and flowers are carved on the external disk, while the twelve internal segments are decorated with beautiful polychrome stained glass windows depicting the Apostles dating back to the fifteenth century.
Under the rose window there is the large central monolith, carved with the date 1450 and with the inscriptions that remind on the left the architect Giorgio de Lancia who built the construction, and on the right Giovanni Gaggini da Bissone, the Comacine master who created the rose window; in the center of the facade there is the statue of San Michele with a sword trampling on the devil, and on the left a sundial.
The portal has the architrave carved with a Trigram in the center; at the jambs the massive monoliths are lightened by the two slender marble columns that continue at the top merging to form a pointed arch, while under the roof alternate white and black bands of Genoese tradition, in turn derived from Pisa; the facade is completed by two large splayed windows with beautiful 15th century stained glass panes. The interior is divided into three naves on stone columns joined by pointed arches, with decorated bases and capitals.
Behind the high altar there is the splendid gold background polyptych "San Michele e Santi" of 1500, by Giovanni Canavesio: a grandiose work, divided into thirty-six compartments with in the center Saint Michael knocking down the devil, in the predella (i.e. the lower part) a series of almost miniatures to dominate the theory of the twelve Apostles, and on the sides four saints on each side. In the column on the left of the high altar is embedded a beautiful marble tondo with a sunburst.
Once out of the church turn right on the square with a beautiful fountain and a large stone basin behind which is the staircase that leads up to the baroque oratory of Sant'Antonio with its polychrome facade. In front, on the wall of the church, there is a plaque of the side chapel with the date 1639: the chapels on the left side were in fact built between 1570 and 1640. Here stands the beautiful bell tower in squared stones, fifty-six meters high, with a pinnacle roof, beyond which there is the apse, with large square ashlars at the corners, and fifteenth-century stained glass panes on the windows.
Taking Via Fossarel on the left instead, you’ll first encounter the drinking trough, then the reproduction of the Lourdes grotto and finally after ten minutes of arduous uphill walk, the cemetery where the chapel of San Bernardo stands; the interior preserves a splendid cycle of frescoes of 1482 by Giovanni Canavesio, among the most important in western Liguria, with scenes from the Passion of Christ and the Last Judgment.
Returning to the loggia, pass under the slender arch in front of it and after passing through the gate with a round arch, continue under the vault with an aedicule; immediately afterwards affixed on the right next to number 10 you’ll find the vertical plaque carved at the top with the pinecone, symbol of the town. From here opens in front of you the widening that formerly was the noble center of the medieval village, with the vast central area occupied at that time by the castle which has now disappeared, surrounded by the manor houses you can still see.
The one at number 1 has the lintel of 1535 carved with the inscription: "EXPECTO TEMPO CHE PASSIONE SE MOVA - CHE PATIENTIA VINCE OGNI PROVA"; under the vault in front of you, at number 8, the lintel of 1540 is carved with a Trigram; on the left there is the beautiful building with a facade decorated with hanging arches and portals with carved lintels; at number 11 there is a house with an architrave carved with a Trigram in a tondo between heraldic shields, and medieval square windows; at number 12 there is a monolithic-architrave portal with a roof; then the beautiful column and the monolithic architrave that form a small loggia with a seat, and finally at number 20 the other portal with a black-stone architrave protected by a roof and medallions with guardian wizard on the jambs.
Go back to the loggia and go down under the vault of Via Roma, passing the capacity measurements on the left and a window-door on the right; going down you’ll encounter another one in front of you, surmounted by the long stone shelves that supported a now disappeared roof.
Continue under the vault until you get to the widening on which the deconsecrated Church of Santa Croce stands; on the right there is the Baroque Oratory of the same name, while in the center of the small square there is a beautiful fountain with a central column with masks surrounded by a round stone basin. From the house to your right protrude two stone shelves, carved one with a rosette and the other one with a guardian wizard.
Take the left under the vault of Via Carriera Piana; opposite, at number 8, there is a portal with an architrave carved with braided floral motifs, between the letters "CAB ANIA", from which, descending to the right, at number 14 you’ll find another architrave carved with four stone balls above the roof, flanked by a well-kept aedicule of the Virgin.
After passing the black stone portal with a summary decoration at number 36 and the stone pointed arched one at number 40, at the corner with Vico Ponte look right under the vault, at number 70; it would take a flashlight to properly see the archaic architrave of 1422, carved with a simple Trigram between the inscription "NON EGO SED S. GRA (TIA) DEI MECUM", which can be translated as: "Not me, but the holy grace of God with me "; to indicate the abbreviations, the concerned letters are topped with a capital Omega.
Take Vicolo Ponte on the left and, continuing under the vaults pass other portals, at number 11 one with a roof and at number 9 one with a heraldic shield. Once out of the inhabited nucleus, you can return immediately back in, passing under the dark and archaic vault of Vicolo Colla to the left; at the crossroads take the right and, having passed on the left the portal decorated also in the jambs with geometric motifs, go left upon reaching the aedicule.
At number 59 there is a rustic portal with benches facing a window-door; after passing at number 5 and number 7 two other stone portals, of which the one at number 7 with a roof, continuing you will end up at the loggia from which you can return to the car.
From Pigna in an hour's walk you can reach the seventeenth-century church of Madonna del Passoscio, which preserves a seventeenth-century "Annunciation" by Carlo Maratta.
A hundred karst caves open up in the territory of the Municipality of Pigna; the deepest and most interesting one is Grotta della Melosa, at the foot of Monte Colma, in Melosa area. Other caves are in Valle di Rughi, in Valle delle Tane, on Monte Toraggio, on Pietravecchia (with an abyss of ninety meters), along Rio Brighetta and in Valle del Corvo. Further downstream, above Pigna and Buggio, open other caves, including Tana della Giacheira and Garbo di Barraigo, rich in fossil finds.
Leaving Pigna, just after the bridge, at the sign indicating the location, the road leading to the spa (hypothermal sulphurous waters) and the ramp leading to the restaurant branch off to the right.
Take the latter, from which at the first curve branches off to the left the mule track that climbs up to Castelvittorio; after a short walk you’ll arrive in front of the church of Santa Maria di Nogareto, today in a state of total abandonment.
Built in the 12th century and then restored in the form of a three-nave basilica in the fifteenth century, the church was further remodeled and named after the Assumption in the eighteenth century. The new Baroque facade has on each side of the portal two of the slender columns recovered from the original construction, surmounted by a bell tower; in the simple black stone portal the jambs end at the top with a rough lion's muzzle.
The first architrave is carved with an Agnus in the central tondo, while the other architrave is carved with floral motifs, both in painted relief. The interior, with a baroque layout, has been left at the mercy of vandals, and is therefore in a serious state of degradation, a prolusion to its decay.
To the right of the church the mule track crosses a bridge, the Ponte di Lagopigo, where in 1365 peace was solemnly sworn between Genoa and Provence.
Returning to the car continue on the provincial road, from which shortly after branches off to the right the detour that takes you to Castelvittorio.