The village
As Italian poet Alfonso Gatto wrote, Cervo is all saved at height; it is a mountain of houses and stairs; the guests who attack the long climbs to visit it are all pilgrims who leave the cars at the bottom, on Via Aurelia and cherish the wonder of discovering it. Harvested on a hill overlooking the sea, for more than half a century, between the months of July and August, the churchyard of the corallines, in front of the church of San Joseph Baptist, is revived with lights and the notes of the International Chamber Music Festival. The church, one of the major baroque monuments of Western Riviera, has also been erected thanks to the proceeds of traditional coral fishing in the seas of Corsica and Sardinia.
The history
The Roman origins of Cervo would be confirmed by fragments of tombstones found near the ancient church of San Nicolas. And it was just around this building that the primitive village consisting of a few houses was established. The position of Cervo, a village perched on a small promontory, was strategic. In fact, from here, it was possible to control the coastal road and in particular the area of the Gulf of Diano. However, the current structure of the historic centre has medieval origins. In the eleventh century, it was fief of the Clavesana family, fortified village, and in 1172 passed under the jurisdiction of Diano Marina. In the thirteenth century, it became an autonomous consulate linked to Genoese domains, while in 1326, it became property of the Del Carretto marquises and then returned under the dominion of the Republic of Genoa, until 1797. From 28 April 1798, it was part of the V Canton of the Capo delle Mele Jurisdiction and in 1803 it became the main centre of the Jurisdiction of Olive Trees. It passed under the French in 1805 and finally it was included in the Department of Montenotte, Kingdom of Sardinia and Kingdom of Italy.
