The village
Triora, dominant village of the Argentina valley, maintains its appearance and its characteristics dating back to the medieval period. Of prehistoric origins, Triora is mentioned in documents since the twelfth century as a fief of the Counts of Ventimiglia. The popularity of the town derives from the now famous process held between 1587 and 1589, which gave the village the name of “village of witches”. The story is the focus of a part of the Regional Ethnographic and Witchcraft Museum, divided into six rooms, which represents the evolution of rural life. Valuable is the archaeological section showing the artifacts found in the Argentina Valley, among which bone remains historically dated at the time of the Middle Neolithic stand out. Triora also preserves some monuments of considerable historical and artistic importance, including the Collegiate Church of the Assumption, where it is possible to admire a baptism of Christ by Taddeo di Bartolo, together with the frescoes attributed to Giovanni Canavesio, admirable in the church of Saint Bernardine.
The history
A village of Roman origin, probably built by the tribe of Montani Liguri (Ligurians of the mountains), who subdued to the Roman Empire only after long struggles fought over the territory. It had great relevance in the past thanks to its location in a border area, crossed by many crest lines and crosswise intervals. Located on the crest of Mount Trono, in a dominated position on the Argentina valley, it preserves within it an urban fabric of complex structure and high environmental interest. It is made up of buildings and overlapping of various eras in a series of alleys, squares, staircases on which high characteristic houses overlook, embellished with valuable gates carved with coats of arms, figures, allegories, religious symbols. Since the eleventh century, it has been included in the Marca Arduinica (Arduinic March). Then, in the following century, it passed to the Counts of Ventimiglia and it began to make alliances with the neighbouring towns and villages, in particular with those closer to the expansionist politics of the Republic of Genoa, and this sanctioned the transfer of Triora into the new fief of Genoa. This fact was positive for the village, especially for the numerous concessions of privileges offered by the Republic, including that of becoming the leader of the neighbouring Communes. In the following centuries, new walls and defensive fortresses were created, establishing an impregnable fortified centre, so strong that they put a strain on the troops of Charles IV when he tried to conquer it. Despite the various disagreements, the population responded to war calls, especially in the famous battle of Meloria of 1284, when Triora and its Podestà sent against Pisa about two hundred and fifty crossbowmen in support of Genoa. In 1625, the Piedmont army of the Duchy of Savoy tried to conquer the village, but did not succeed. With the fall of the Republic of Genoa and the creation of the Ligurian Republic by Napoleone, Triora became the cantonal capital of the Jurisdiction of the Olives and since 1805, it has become an integral part of the Department of the French Maritime Alps. The Congress of Vienna of 1814 established the return of Triora to the territories of the Kingdom of Sardinia, as well as the other Ligurian towns of the former Napoleonic Republic, and the definitive transfer to the newly constituted Kingdom of Italy.
