The village
Ancient Roman city of Albingaunum, located within the vast agricultural plain where two well-known land typologies are produced, asparagus characterized by a purple colour and spiky artichokes, both recognized as regional excellence. In the historic centre of the town, an ancient Roman strategic place and later important bishop’s place, there are some of the most beautiful and important Ligurian buildings, including the baptistery of Paleochristian origins, the only building still intact dating back to the late Roman period. Artistic and landscaped historical beauties, with the Gallinara Island, located right in front of the Albenga coast, boasting since 1989 the establishment of the Regional Nature Reserve for its biological value of the flora and fauna of the seabed and the territory.
The history
Called in Roman times Albium Ingaunum, a place name that means "City of the Ingauni", a branch of the Ligurian population that made this strategic place its capital, it was the focal point of Western Liguria for Roman colonization. Albenga was allied with Carthage against Rome during the Second Punic War in the 3rd Century BC, becoming the naval base of Magone, Hannibal’s brother. From here, he embarked heading to Genoa, looting it fiercely in 205 BC. It was later conquered by Rome, obtaining the use of the Latin language and Roman citizenship. In the Roman Empire, the town expanded, developing and enriching its urbanization. In the fifth Century it was attacked by the Goth population that damaged it by conquering it. In 451, the diocese was born, with the primacy to be one of the oldest in Liguria. Around the year 1000, it participated in the first Crusade and the struggles for dominance in the Tyrrhenian Sea, becoming free municipality in 1100. It was incorporated to the Genoa Republic in the 13th Century as a strategic port where goods and fleets departed and arrived. It was directly involved in the fights between Guelphs and Ghibellines, passing under the rule of the Del Carretto family, Marquisate of Finale, Viscaunt and French over the centuries. Occupied by the Savoy in the seventeenth Century, it passed under Napoleonic rule and the Kingdom of Italy.
