Liguria · Imperia
Taggia
The Argentina valley's medieval seat above the Riviera dei Fiori, the town that gave its name to the Taggiasca olive grown across western Liguria.
Known for
TAGGIASCA
Small black olive cultivar brought by Benedictines from Lérins in the eighth century, now the dominant olive of western Liguria.
BREA AT SAN DOMENICO
The Dominican convent holds the largest collection of Ludovico Brea panels in Liguria, the most important antique-painting collection in the district.
PONTE ANTICO
275-metre stone bridge across the Argentina, sixteen arches added between the 1200s and 1700s, the longest medieval bridge in Liguria.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Taggia sits where the Argentina valley narrows toward the Ligurian coast, fifteen kilometers west of Imperia. Iron Age tombs have been found in the territory; Romans called the small port at the mouth Costa Balenae. The Benedictine monks of Lérins came in the seventh and eighth centuries and, by tradition, brought the olive cultivar that took the town's name and now covers most of western Liguria's hillsides.
The medieval centro storico runs along three parallel streets above the river. The Convento di San Domenico, founded in 1490, holds the largest collection of Ludovico Brea panels in Liguria, four centuries of west-Ligurian painting in one cloister. The Ponte Antico across the Argentina has fifteen arches, built up between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries to reach 275 meters.
Sixteenth-century walls fortified the town against Ottoman raids that struck the coast in 1560 and 1564. Taggia carries the Borghi più belli badge and the Città dell'Olio designation as the source of the Taggiasca name.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Taggia’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Convento di San Domenico
Dominican convent founded in 1490, holds the largest collection of panels by Ludovico Brea and the Nice school in Liguria.
Ponte Antico
Stone bridge over the Argentina with sixteen arches, built incrementally from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, 275 meters long.
Centro storico di Taggia
Three parallel medieval streets above the river, sixteenth-century walls and gates intact from the era of Saracen and Ottoman raids.
Chiesa dei Santi Giacomo e Filippo
Sixteenth-century collegiate church at the centre of the borgo, Baroque retables, restored after damage in the 1887 Ligurian earthquake.
Castello di Taggia
Ruined fortress on the hill above the village, originally Clavesana, occupied in turn by Grimaldi, Doria and Savoia forces.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Taggia fits in a slow Italy circuit.
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Signature product
Olio Riviera Ligure DOPDOP
Olive oil from the Taggiasca cultivar, the small black olive that defines Ligurian cuisine.
See every town in our catalogue producing Olio Riviera Ligure DOP.
Living here
- Population 13,760
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Genoa, 1 h 51 min drive
- Regional capital Genova, 1 h 56 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 40 m
- Population: 13,760
- Surface area: 31.36 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Taggia
Badalucco
Province: Imperia
A medieval village wrapped in a bend of the Argentina torrent, with murals on its caruggi and a Slow Food bean on its terraces.
Ceriana
Province: Imperia
A medieval village at 369 meters above the Valle Armea, inland from Sanremo, built on the Roman castrum that gave it its name.
Sanremo
Province: Imperia
The capital of the Italian Riviera dei Fiori — Belle Époque casino and palm-lined Lungomare on the seafront, the medieval labyrinth of La Pigna climbing the hill behind, and a year-round mild climate that built the original Northern European winter trade.
Cipressa
Province: Imperia
A ridgeline village at 232 meters above the Riviera dei Fiori, the climb that decides Milan-San Remo and a sixteenth-century Saracen-defence tower as its summit.
Seborga
Province: Imperia
A hilltop village at 517 meters above Bordighera that calls itself a principality, 276 residents, its own coins and stamps since 1963.
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
More Borghi più belli d'Italia towns in Liguria
Ameglia
Province: La Spezia
A hilltop borgo at 89 meters above the mouth of the Magra, the Lunigiana edge of Liguria where the river meets the Gulf of Poets.
Apricale
Province: Imperia
A medieval hill village in the Nervia Valley, named for the Latin apricus, sunny, with a tenth-century castle shaped like a lizard on the rock.
Borgio Verezzi
Province: Savona
Two villages joined under one comune in 1933: Borgio on the Bandiera Blu beach and Verezzi at 200 meters on the pink-stone hill above.
Brugnato
Province: La Spezia
The medieval ecclesiastical capital of the Val di Vara, seat of a diocese from 1133 to 1820, with a co-cathedral built over a Columban monastery.
Campo Ligure
Province: Genova
A Spinola borgo at 342 meters in the Stura valley north of Genova, the last working centre for gold and silver filigree in Italy.