Download - Provincia di Savona

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the other riviera
Bormida di Spigno Valley
Piedmontese Liguria
The Bormida di Spigno Valley is a piece of Liguria with
a Piedmontese flavour. This may be due to its history,
marked by feudal struggles and rulers who were sometimes
local (the Del Carretto Marquises) and sometimes from
Monferrato and the House of Savoy; or perhaps to the
river that flows northwards, towards the Po...
In any case, the dialects spoken here have a
Piedmontese ring and the excellent local
truffles “smell of the sea”.
ALTARE
An Art Nouveau town
The town of Altare is set amid the green surroundings of the
Colle di Cadibona, traditionally the transition point between
the Alps and the Apennines. Its origins are medieval and it
once belonged to the Del Carretto family. It was subsequently
ruled over by the Marquises of Monferrato, who introduced
the craft of glassmaking. Today it is a pretty little town with
2300 inhabitants, set in the lush greenery of the Apennines
and embellished with exuberant Art Nouveau architecture
(dating from the early twentieth century), in the form
of palaces, villas and industrial buildings.
The Savona Forest
Altare is in the centre of the huge, thickly wooded
Savona Forest, which has supplied the area with wood
and clean air for thousands of years. This endless
green expanse is ideal for walking and mountain biking.
Beech, durmast, Turkey oak and chestnut trees grow in
the forest, alongside ferns, butcher’s broom, juniper, holly
and broom. Foxes, hares, squirrels, herons and slow, silentflying
birds of prey can all be seen with a little luck.
The Tecci Fortress stands on the Colle di Cadibona and was
built to defend the valley.
SAVONA
Sand, fire and
glass
Sand heated in the fire, blown
and worked into glass: this
art has earned Altare’s
master glassmakers world
renown since the
fifteenth century.
In 1495 the
University of
Glass was
founded in the
town. It laid down
the statutes that
regulated the art.
The finest production
of Altare’s master
glassmakers is housed in the
Museo del Vetro (Glass
Museum), in the splendid Art
Nouveau setting of Villa Rosa.
Antique pieces can be seen
in the museum, while modern
examples can be bought from
the master glassmakers who
still practise their art in the
town: Raffaello and
Costantino Bormioli and
Vanessa Cavallaro.