Main Museums
Olive Museum, Imperia
In a beautiful Liberty building has hosted this fascinating museum that received the European Museum of the Year Award in 1993. The museum traces the history of the olive tree and its fruit and documents the use of oil (for lighting, heating; food, cosmetic, medicine). Numerous oil bottles are exposed (collections Carli).
Archaeological Museum of Diano Marina
In the new Archaeological Museum of Diano Marina, developed in nine exhibition halls and a media room, are presented the materials found in the surrounding area of Diano Marina, from Capo Berta to Capo Cervo, covering the period from prehistory to the late Roman times.
Ethnographic Museum of Western Liguria, Cervo
The museum occupies the first floor of the thirteenth-century castle of the Marquises of Clavesana, and order the remains of the nineteenth-twentieth century that reconstruct scenes of everyday life: the traditional setting of the home, the agricultural and craft work, the maritime activities.
Naval Museum, Imperia
The museum houses a rich collection of testimonies of Ligurian and national maritime traditions. There is material related to modeling, cartography, shipbuilding. Inside, also an uniform room; a room dedicated to ocean sailing and the last one to the navy and the steam navigation.
Prehistoric Museum and Caves of Balzi Rossi, Ventimiglia
The museum houses archaeological finds from the caves of Balzi Rossi, of considerable prehistoric importance, where traces of human presence have been found, from 240.000 years ago up to the Mesolithic. Are exposed objects, tools and primitive forms of art. To note the "Triple burial": the skeletons of an adult, a young and a child of the Upper Paleolithic.
Ethnographic and Witchcraft Museum
The museum is located in the old prisons and is divided into six cycles: life in the camps, the history of the chestnut tree, the kitchen in its original structure, the milk and its processing, the wine and the legend and history of witches. The preserved documents testify to the witch-hunt took place between 1587 and 1589, between persecution and torture.
Roman Naval Museum, Albenga
The museum houses finds from the largest Roman ship found in the sea of Albenga, foundered between 100 and 90 BC, a mile from the coast. Personal effects of the crew were also recovered.
Places of natural interest
Toirano
The caves of Toirano after the necessary accommodation works constitutes one of the major attractions of the Liguria.
Botanical garden of Villa Hanbury
The Gardens were created thanks to the passion of the English traveler Sir Thomas Hanbury, who decided to settle on the Ligurian coast and initially bought the palace of Marquises Orengo of Ventimiglia, then the surrounding land on which wanted to create a beautiful garden with botanical species collected all over of the world. The gardens are home to thousands of plant species (almost 6000 cataloged in 1912) of mainly tropical and subtropical origin.
Aquarium of Genoa
The largest aquarium in Europe. Visit the Aquarium of Genoa is like taking an extraordinary trip through the immensity of the sea. Seals, dolphins, penguins, sharks, fish of all shapes and colors, will accompany you to the discovery of the marine world.
Various art galleries, permanent exhibitions and places of artistic and cultural interest are present in the province of Imperia and the surrounding area. To know them all ask at an information desk or directly at the hotel reception, where guests can collect different information materials.
Main villages to visit:
The valleys around Diano Marina, hills between cultivated terraces and sea
Diano San Pietro, with fortified church against the Barbary pirates.
Diano Castello, medieval town full of secrets.
Villa Faraldi, with the church of San Lorenzo, home of the great Norwegian sculptor Fritz Roed.
Riva Faraldi, among ancient olive mills.
Deglio, the shepherds and the meadow of "Coppetti"
Cervo, simply one of the most beautiful towns in Italy
Impero Valley, with castles and towers to defend the territory
Bestagno and the castle ruins.
Candeasco and its delicious "bugie".
Pontedassio, and the cookie of the" Slow Food".
Maro Castello, with the remains of the fortress, which was destroyed in 1625 by Wellness Centergnoli, allied with the Genoese.
Borgomaro, among ancient olive mills and the country life. The church of S. Nazario and Celso, with elements of the twelfth century.
Lucinasco, the lake and the fifteenth-century church of S. Stefano and Maddalena, surrounded by the woodlands.
Conio, The Castle of the Counts of Ventimiglia and the famous beans (Slow Food).
Arroscia Valley, on the border with Piedmont, land of passage of numerous civilizations ... and marmots
The Church of S. Pantaleo, with frescoes attributed to Pietro Guido da Ranzo.
The oratory of "Madonna delle Vigne Di Ranzo", with an altarpiece built by Filippo da Ranzo
Gavenola, The church of "S. Colombano di Gavenola"
Pieve di Teco, the heart of the valley, with the collegiate dedicated to "San Giovanni Battista", the historic arcades, the church of "Madonna della Ripa" with the permanent exhibition of "Ubaga Masks".
Rezzo, the woodland and the sanctuary of "N. S. del Sepolcro o della Natività di Maria Santissima di Rezzo" with wall paintings, including the Passion of Christ, created by Pietro Guido da Ranzo.
Villa and the fifteenth-century church of S. Dalmazzo which houses the statue of the Madonna and Child, surrounded by a frame with a series of "mysteries of the Rosary" (1490-1500).
Mendatica and the church of S.ta Margherita
Val Prino, the "Via del Sale" and the magnificent sacred buildings
Montegrazie, The church of S. Annunziata with frescoes by Carlo Braccesco, the Sanctuary of "Nostra Signora delle Grazie", constructed from an anti-Saracen tower and enriched with frescoes by Tommaso and Matteo Biazaci da Busca and Pietro Guido da Ranzo.
Moltedo, with the church of St. Bernardo which houses the picture "Holy Family "of Antonio Van Dyck
Vasia, the Romanesque church of "S. Anna" and the church of "S Martino".
Prelà and the fourteenth-century castle of the Lascaris.
Pantasina and the church of the Transfiguration
Molini di Prelà and the church of "San Giovanni Battista del Groppo"
Dolcedo, olive mills, the bridge of the "Cavalieri di Malta", the Church of "S. Tommaso", the "Banco della Ragione" with the units of measure for oil and wine of 1613
Monte Faudo,and the S. Brigida chapel.
Lecchiore, the Sanctuary of the "Madonna dell'Acqua santa" and the lakes in the woodland, where you can dive in harmony with nature.
