Altitude: 563 m a.s.l.
Area: 37 sq km
Distance from Imperia: 30 km
Inhabitants: in 1881: 1939 - in 2017: 315
Patron Saint Day: November 11th - San Martino
Information: Municipality phone 0183 34015
Before Rezzo you’ll encounter a detour to Lavina. The toponym "Lavina" seems to derive from the memory of a large landslide that would have caused the abandonment of a primitive village located in a higher position near the ruins of the church of Maddalena, although other sources have handed down the news that this settlement was destroyed by the Provençal troops in 1270 and later rebuilt on the valley floor near the bridge that crosses the Arroscia Torrent.
Lavina is the oldest village in the valley and gave its name to the stream called Lavina dal Pizzo alla Saponiera. A historian calls it instead Cenova torrent, while today some geographers indicate it with the name of Giara di Rezzo because Rezzo is the main town.
At the beginning, only Lavina was a parish seat, and baptisms and burials were done in the Church that was Santa Maria Maddalena.
In 1331 it is known that there was in Lavina an oratory chapel of Sant’Antonio Abate built just before and located on the site where the present church was going to be built. At that time Lavina had a castle of which the site is still indicated and belonged to the Counts of Ventimiglia who were the Lords of the “Castellania” of Aurigo. Still valuable is the botanical garden of Silvia De Canis, that can be visited by calling the owner in advance.
Back to the Provincial Road 18 take the right to Cenova.
The village has always been subjected to the Savoys through the feudal lords Marquises of the Maro and is known for having created a very active guild of stonemasons, skilled stone carvers who decorated the facades of many of the most beautiful churches in the province and enriched with bas-reliefs the lintels of the richest noble residences of the time; the most archaic examples of their works date back to before the fourteenth century, but it is above all in the fifteenth and in the following century that their activity expanded practically in all the centers of west Liguria, to later set with the advent of Baroque which to bare carved stones preferred stuccoes and colors.
Numerous bas-relief architraves remain in the town to witness their abilities; some of the most beautiful ones, however, have now been removed from the home portals and sold.
Visit of the town
After parking the car at the beginning of the village on the churchyard, enter the church of San Giovanni, built in the fifteenth century and then rebuilt in Baroque style, preserving the archaic "ciappe" roof.
At the entrance raise our eyes to look at the vault where there is a first example of the work of the stonemasons, a plaque carved in a Trigram.
In the church are preserved the polyptych "Stories of the life of Saint Anthony of Padua" on the left and on the right the canvas "Saint Catherine", both anonymous, in large and massive sixteenth-century richly carved wooden temple-frames; to the left of the high altar is the anonymous polyptych with a gold background "Madonna with Child and Saints".
In the sacristy are affixed two splendid plaques: the first one of 1486 carved in a Trigram between very rich delicate floral motifs; the second one with the inscription "ARMA RDOR 1578 Scultore di essa Pietro Valencio de Ceno (va)" reproduces a very fine head of Christ and elements of the Passion (the thirty-three coins, the mantle, the tongs, etc.) surmounted by a rooster and surrounded by accurate decorations.
Once out of the church, cross again the churchyard that preserves at the corners beautiful column drums of the original church and take the low street to the left; passing on the right the portal with a semicircular staircase and the other finely carved portal of 1555, you can go beyond the vault where on the right there is a monolithic lunette overdoor.
Returning back to the open space with a fountain decorated with a heraldic shield, climb to the right the concrete ramp, on whose house at number 24 there is a portal with an architrave beautifully carved in the lower part with an Agnus in the center and flowers on the sides; to see it, go under the lintel and look up.
If you continue following the directions to the restaurant and leave the village, you’ll find the small church of the Madonna that preserves inside a slate sculpture that reproduces an elegantly dressed female figure, reused as a base for a holy water font; if you insted take the left, pass under the archway and then continue along the short ramp to the right facing the medieval house with ogival arch stone windows and an architrave with a rare carving that continues from the lower side to the front.
Advancing along this ramp is like proceeding in time, transferring from these testimonies of past wealth to the desolation of our days, dramatically illustrated by the abandoned houses of the village, a sinister omen of how the village will become if the trend is not reversed.
Back to the main road, continue noticing another carved architrave at the bottom of Vico Piave, that branches off to your left, and arrive to the wide Municipal Loggia, on whose pediment is the plaque commemorating the foundation of Genoa.
Take the ramp on the right which presents in front of you a massive portal in smooth stone and on the right a gigantic Trigram-carved lintel followed by another lunette-shaped monolithic architrave; going up the steps, pass on the right the architrave with an upside down Trigram and then pass next to the archaic house which still preserves on the external wall the perforated "ciappe" that supported the poles of the pergola of the now disappeared terrace.
Arriving at the aedicule, turn left and then left again along the paved road where, in just a few steps, you’ll find above the window on the left the splendid lintel carved with the heads of the wolf and the fox in full relief; proceed then between the archaic houses with almost dry stone walls and "ciappe" roofs and go down to the widening on which, faced by the wash-house, rises the oratory of San Giovanni Battista, with a fresco on the overdoor and a sundial on the side.
From there descend along the paved ramp passing on the right the two smooth stone portals now walled up; once in the widening of the loggia go down to the right and, passing next to the architrave with the inscription "HOC OP(U)S FACTU(M) FUIT TEMPORE I A H FR M 1555", you’ll arrive to the churchyard from which you can go back to the car.
On the Provincial Road turn right and after a few bends you’ll reach the village of Rezzo.
Arriving by car continue past the built-up area until you reach the detour on the right which in three kilometers takes you to the grassy clearing with a fountain surrounded by the wood on which stands the Romanesque Santuario della Madonna Bambina, built in 1444.
The facade is decorated with a rose window, completed by arches and columns, made out of a single block of stone; in the eighteenth century was added the portico that precedes it, supported by three slender stone recovery columns mounted on masonry bases to reach the necessary height.
The portal is in smooth stone, with an architrave decorated with the Trigram which also appears on the tondo affixed on the vault of the portico; on the left side of the building, preceded by a semicircular staircase and protected by a canopy on stone shelves, opens the portal with a monolithic architrave carved with an Agnus inscribed in a tondo.
In the sixteenth century, due to the nightmare of Saracen raids, in front of the apse was built the semicircular tower which, together with the narrow loopholes that the stone bell tower points towards the valley and the other low ones on the right side of the Sanctuary, make the building a good example of a fortified church; the bell tower is externally decorated by a large frescoed figure, yet missing the head.
The interior, clearly visible from the two low windows on the façade, is divided into three naves by two series of four stone columns with decorated capitals joined by pointed arches; at the beginning there is the low column that holds the round black-stone font, and further on has been preserved the archaic wall with seats which divided the space for the worshippers from the one closest to the altar reserved to the members of the Confraternities.
The left wall is entirely white, while the walls on the right and at the bottom are decorated with a rich cycle of frescoes including "The seven deadly sins", "Hell and the pains", the deteriorated "Purgatory" and below "The work in the fields".
The most interesting frescoes are those with decorated pointed arches that Pietro Guidi da Ranzo painted in 1515 illustrating a grandiose cycle of scenes of the "Life of Jesus" divided into two levels. The ceiling towards the apse is decorated with polychrome stuccoes; on the high altar, among the four pink marble spiral columns, the marble group "Madonna with Child" by the Genoese Filippo Parodi (1630-1702), a pupil of Bernini, stands out.
Returning by car to the village, park in front of the Town Hall and go down the ramp upstream of the inn; passed on the left the Trigram-carved overdoor, go under the archivolt. From there go down again (but then you will have to endure the fatigue of the ascent), leaving the inhabited area, and admire the valley and the medieval Ponte dei Passi that crosses the loud Giara di Rezzo below.
Continuing to descend, you will arrive to the chapel of San Sebastiano with inside a fresco mutilated for the opening of the window overlooking the valley; just below is a trapezoidal sink.
If, on the other hand, you take the concrete ramp up to the right, you’ll arrive to a nucleus of medieval houses from which you’ll have a view of the valley and the bridge.
If, instead, you take the left on Via Ospedale you’ll come to the widening on which stands the Cappella dell’Ospedale with stone floors and seats, final destination of the procession that brings there the statue of the dead Christ on Good Friday; it houses the late fifteenth-century fresco "Crucifixion".
Take the right passing under the arch of the medieval house facing the small fountain with a stone basin and after a group of modern houses pass the architrave with a Trigram embedded on the facade of a restored house on the left; on the little square below there is a house with the coat of arms of the Savoys carved on the architrave surmounted by an aedicule with a marble statuette of the Virgin and Child with a sundial beside it.
Returning back to the chapel, go right up next to the town hall from which you can take the car to park a little further downstream in Piazza Guglieri.
On the opposite side of the road rises the ramp that has a fountain on the left with a niche and a statue of the Virgin, followed by the portal of the rectory with an architrave carved with a Trigram, the initials R D and the date 1516, and, divided between the two jambs, the date 1571.
Heading up the ramp, keep the right, passing -under the archivolt- the architrave with a Trigram from which, going beyond the fountain, you’ll reach the palace with an architrave carved with the upside-down acorn emblem of the Clavesanas.
Turning back, keep the right and, past the grassy area with the archaic portals decorated with a rosette and the curb of the Marquis' Casa degli Armigeri on the right, come out to the parvis of the parish church of San Martino of Romanesque origin but entirely rebuilt by the Clavesanas in the first half of the seventeenth century; embedded to the right of the main altar is the cabinet for the holy oils in carved stone, which surmounts the square marble plaque that recalls the story of Aleramo and Alasia with the inscription: "Saxoniense O + ex Aleramo - P. Marchione et Alaxia filia Ottonis I Romanorum Imperatoris semper Augusti".
In front of the church, on the grassy clearing with the summit of the wall marked by the chunks of the columns of the original Romanesque building, stands the Castle of the Clavesanas, perfectly preserved but privately owned and not open to visitors. The square construction is on three floors, with the quadrangular hanging watchtowers at the top; the defensive ditch in front of the bolted iron gate is now crossed by a masonry bridge with small side seats that replaced the original wooden drawbridge, of which remain on the sides of the portal the clearly visible holes through which passed the chains which maneuvered it.
The architrave of the entrance portal, surmounted by a small temple-aedicule in black stone, has engraved the inscription: "NEC SILENTIO TRANSEUNDA" (Not to be crossed in silence) which, for the avoidance of doubt, invited anyone who came in to clearly indicate their presence; to the left of this is another stone portal with an architrave carved with oak leaves, with the inverted acorn of the family crest in the center.
Inside there is the atrium, from which a wide staircase leads to the first floor, on which open the large dining room with a stone fireplace, the various rooms and the chapel; a service staircase descends to the kitchens which, before a devastating fraudolent raid, kept period decors and furnishings.
On the ground floor are the carpentry, the cellar, the granary and the premises of the guardhouse, while in the basements are the dungeons and a series of traps; the building is the best preserved fortress palace of the late seventeenth century in the western part of Liguria.
Those who have good legs can go up from there along the ramp to the right of the church that, after the archivolt, the fountain and the aedicule on the right, steeply climbs along Via Castello until, at the end of the concrete ramp, arrives to the left of a cottage; from there taking the left it’s possible to reach in a few hundred meters the aedicule of Santa Filomena, with the interior now in ruins.
Immediately downstream of the aedicule, in an excellent strategic position, stood the original Castle of the Clavesanas demolished by the Savoys, of which you can see the remains of the two side towers preceded by the semicircular bastions and those of the perimeter walls; the area of the castle is occupied by a vineyard and, there where the Clavesana nobles lived in luxury, imposing the law on the whole district, today are scratching the hens of a chicken coop.
Going back pass upstream of the cottage and continue on the path to the left which in a few hundred meters leads to the Benedictine chapel of San Mauro, with a barrel vault covered by "ciappe"; the sturdy porch has a trussed roof and stone benches that are repeated in the interior decorated with simple frescoes with a cross motif, now in the process of deterioration.
Down to the village, having reached the house with a lunette on the portal just before the church, turn right and, past the arched stone portal on the right, reach the side of the church from which you can turn right on Via Cavour; before passing under the archivolt, raise your eyes to the right to meet those of the guardian wizard carved on the recovered monolith which serves as a balustrade to the upper staircase.
After passing on the right the smooth stone portal flanked by an arched tuff window, passing under the slab you’ll arrive to the house with two portals, of which the lower one with an architrave sculpted with a Trigram in the center and an abraded emblem on the left.
Continuing along Via Cavour you’ll encounter on the left an archaic low house with a portal with monolithic jambs and splayed windows; two hundred meters after, on the right, there is a medieval house built on the rock whose gate, mounted on the portal with a carved arched overdoor, allows you to see inside the rock continuing into the atrium with a stone staircase that gives access to the inhabited rooms.
From there go back to the car; a suggestive mountain excursion can be taken from Rezzo continuing upstream to Passo della Teglia (1387 m) which leads to Triora.
If, upon reaching this point, you wanted to go to the coast, instead of going back along the State Road 28 that you traveled on the way up, you can take, immediately before entering Pieve di Teco, the detour that branches off to the right towards Albenga along the Arroscia stream.