Altitude: 225 m a.s.l.

Area: 15 sq km

Distance from Imperia: 53 km

Inhabitants: in 1881: 779 - in 2017: 229

Patron Saint Day: December 26th - Santo Stefano

Information: Municipality phone 0184 207942

The territory of the present Rocchetta Nervina was probably frequented by human communities since the prehistoric age, as attested by the discovery of sepulchral caverns dating back to the Copper Age (about 2000 years before Christ).

Located at the confluence of the Oggia and Barbaira streams, Rocchetta Nervina was already known in 1186 with the name of Castrum Barbairae which reveals its deep Roman roots; for centuries it underwent repeated raids by the Dorias of Dolceacqua (who in 1378 also set fire to the village, ruining the walls), who later obtained it definitively as a fief in 1559 by the duke Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, whose family had taken control of it since 1388.

Visit of the town

Park the car in the open space at the beginning of the town and take the beautiful Romanesque bridge with a very accentuated arch near the fountain, thus entering the village.

Once past the vault you’ll come to the Baroque oratory of Sant'Annunziata, with a roofed portal and an architrave of 1559 carved with a Trigram in a plaited tondo between two rosettes; a little higher up is affixed the sabaud inscription "FERT" of 1727.

Inside the oratory is preserved the canvas of 1626 that reproduces the burning village surmounted by the image of the Madonna that leans over to protect it; the story is also remembered by the fresco in the vault, completely analogous to the painting.

After passing the oratory you’ll reach the widening with on the left the Municipal Loggia with stone seats and a fountain, facing the Baroque façade of the church of Santo Stefano rebuilt in the eighteenth century.

The architrave of the portal, of 1535, is carved with a Trigram in a radial pattern in the centre, to the left rosettes and to the right the coat of arms.

Go back and at the first fork turn right and reach the town of Isolabona.