What is Ceriana known for?

Taggiasca olives from the terraced slopes around the village, recognized by the Città dell'Olio network. Rossi, Azzurri and Neri, each with its own oratory, still active in the religious calendar of the village. The Roman watchtower garrison that gave Ceriana its name and shaped its hilltop layout above the Armea river.

Ceriana is a comune in the province of Imperia, Liguria region of Italy, about 153 kilometers from Genova.

Liguria · Imperia

Ceriana

A medieval villageabove the Valle Armea, inland from Sanremo, built on the Roman castrum that gave it its name.

153 km / 95 mi

Nearest hub (Genova)

1,103

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Ceriana sitsin the Valle Armea, twenty kilometers west of Imperia and a short climb inland from Sanremo. The Romans built a garrison here called Castrum Coelianae, a watchtower with permanent quarters for legionaries; the name shortened to Ceriana over the centuries. The town took its present shape in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, passing from the Counts of Ventimiglia to the Mari family in 1297 and to the Republic of Genoa in 1359. The parish church of Santi Pietro e Paolo is reached by climbing the caruggi, narrow Ligurian alleys roofed in places by overpassing houses; inside, an anonymous wooden Virgin from the thirteenth century and a 1526 polyptych of San Pietro in cattedra. Three confraternities still keep their oratories in town: the Rossi at Santa Caterina, the Azzurri at the Visitazione, and the Neri at the Addolorata. Olive oil from the surrounding terraces carries the Città dell'Olio mark.

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Gallery

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Known for

Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo
Parish church at the top of the caruggi, with a thirteenth-century anonymous wooden Virgin and a 1526 polyptych of San Pietro in cattedra.
Oratorio di Santa Caterina
Seventeenth-century oratory of the Confraternita dei Rossi, built under the protection of the Senate of Genoa.
Oratorio della Visitazione
Seat of the Confraternita degli Azzurri, the second of three colour-coded brotherhoods that still organize the town's processions.
Oratorio dell'Addolorata
Home of the Confraternita dei Neri, the third confraternity, completing the red-blue-black trio of Ceriana's religious orders.
Centro storico
Eleventh- and twelfth-century stone town built on the Roman castrum, threaded with covered caruggi and stepped passages.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June brings the olive flowering on the terraces below the village and warm afternoons that don't yet burn. September and October are the dry months, with the harvest ramping up and pressing beginning in November. Summer is hotter but the 369 meters of elevation keep nights cool enough to sleep; the caruggi stay shaded most of the day. Winter is quiet, with low cloud often filling the Armea valley below while the village sits above it in clear light. The confraternities hold processions through the year, with the largest activity around Easter and the patronal feasts.