The village
The village of Santo Stefano D’Aveto is located in an alpine valley, dominated by Mount Maggiorasca, which has always been a point of reference for the valley. In the centre of the village, the square host the baroque-style bell tower, isolated from the previous parish church, transformed into an oratory and the 1928 church, which houses a canvas, Madonna of Guadalupe, hanged by tradition to the mast of the galley of Andrea Doria. A little further down, you can still see the ancient inhabited centre, gathered around the main access road, where visible architectural details of value that contribute to create a unique place of its kind immediately stand out. Slightly more isolated, there are the ruins of the castle built in the Middle Ages, during the Malaspina domination, family that ruled the village since 1160, then took over by Fieschi and Doria. Santo Stefano D’Aveto is the ideal starting point for many mountain excursions, especially those on Mount Aiona, Mount Groppo, Mount Roncalla and Penna, from which you can enjoy an unexpected landscape.
The history
The construction of the first settlement dates back to prehistoric times, when Santo Stefano D'Aveto became one of the most important centres of the valley. Crossroads between Lombardy and Piedmont, a border between different local ancient cultures, including the Ligurian people. According to historiographical sources, on the slopes of Mount Penna one of the last battles of the Roman Empire for the domination of Ligurian people took place. From the Lombard period onwards, the territory was under the dominion of the monks of the order of Saint Colombano, of the homonymous abbey of Bobbio, founders of the important monastery of Torrio. In 1110, the fief of Santo Stefano and the entire valley were ceded to the noble family of Malaspina by Federico Barbarossa, through an imperial diploma. The Malaspina’s, for defensive purposes, built numerous fortifications and castles in the surrounding territory and in the fifteenth century the fief passed to the counts of Lavagna, the Fieschi’s, through a document first signed by Emperor Maximilian and then by Charles V. In the sixteenth century, following the conspiracy of the Fieschi family against the Doria family, the place passed to the Genoese control and was included in the Republic of Genoa. Subsequently, the property of Santo Stefano D'Aveto passed to the Doria Pamphilj family until 1797, year of the beginning of the French domination, then passing to the Ligurian Republic and finally to the Kingdom of Italy.
