Location: Balestrino, Province of Savona, Liguria Map
Balestrino (Bârestìn or Balestrin in Ligurian) is an Italian town of 536 inhabitants in the province of Savona in Liguria. The municipal office is located in the hamlet of Borgo.
The territory of Balestrino is located in the valley of the Barescione stream, in the hinterland of Loano-Borghetto Santo Spirito, about 7 km from the coast of the Riviera delle Palme.
The first human settlements,
dating back to the Palaeolithic era, settled in the valley of the
Barescione stream (near the Rio Ponte), coming from the nearby Val
Varatella. The Roman army had to clash several times with the local
populations for domination over the territory, building towers and
fortifications on the surrounding fortresses. One of these was the
rocky tower around which the Burgus Plebis of Balestrino was born:
as evidence of Roman domination, numerous coins of the time have
been found adjacent to the village, found on the ancient mule track.
In the early Middle Ages the populations gradually moved towards
the surrounding valleys, forming new hamlets and villages and
constituting the first real settlement of Bergalla, seat of the
first lords of the place. The exploitation of the land was
perfected, moving the cultivation of olive trees, legumes and
cereals along the mountain slopes thanks to the technique of
terraces, typical of many towns in Liguria. It became possession, in
the 9th century, of the Toiranese Benedictine abbey of San Pietro
dei Monti, and passed under the control of Bonifacio del Vasto in
1091.
The Piedmontese Bava became, in feudal times, the first
lords of the fief of Balestrino and of the entire valley, building
the first castle on the slopes of the Curaira fortress. The feud
then passed into the possession of the Del Carretto marquises of the
Finale branch (12th century) who built the castle there around the
middle of the 16th century, which still exists today. The manor was
set on fire in the same century by the inhabitants of the village,
due to the misunderstandings that arose between the lords of
Carretta and the Balestrinesi. United to the Marquisate of
Zuccarello in 1545, by inheritance it passed to the Marquis Pirro II
Del Carretto who gave life to a new and autonomous family branch
(the Del Carretto di Balestrino) and submitting the Balestrinese
village among the imperial fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire. A revolt
by the inhabitants of Balestrina led to the killing of the Marquis
and his wife in 1561. To prevent new riots in the countryside, it
was his son who instituted new laws and erected a special court with
instruments of torture.
Despite the disagreements between the
marquises and his fiefdom, Balestrino experienced an era of economic
expansion, supported by the construction of mills, oil mills,
furnaces and soap factories. The village thus became the "economic
capital" of the entire valley, remaining independent from the
Republic of Genoa, the new owner of the surrounding lands.
During 1735 the sovereignty of the Balestrine feud was transferred
by the emperor to the dependence of the Kingdom of Sardinia who, by
royal decree of 1749, inserted Balestrino in the province of
Oneglia; the Del Carretto family enjoyed the residual feudal rights.
In the crucial phases of the battle of Loano (1795), the castle and
the territory of Balestrino were the scene of dramatic events
between the population and the French army: the victory of the
Napoleonic soldiers opened the way for Napoleon Bonaparte in
northwestern Italy.
In 1801 it was united with the Ligurian
Republic as the main center of the VI canton of Maremola in the
Jurisdiction of Colombo (1803). Annexed to the First French Empire,
the territory of Balestrino from 13 June 1805 to 1814 was included
in the Department of Montenotte.
In 1815 it was incorporated
into the province of Albenga of the Kingdom of Sardinia, as
established by the Congress of Vienna in 1814, and subsequently into
the Kingdom of Italy from 1861. From 1859 to 1927 the territory was
included in the seventh district of Loano in the Albenga district
forming part of the province of Genoa; in 1927 with the suppression
of the ingauno district it passed, for a few months, in the district
of Savona and, finally, under the newly established province of
Savona.
The aggregation of the suppressed municipality of
Carpe to the territory of Balestrino dates back to 1869, a fraction
that in 1905 was sold to the municipality of Toirano.
From
1973 to 31 December 2008 he was part of the Pollupice mountain
community and, with the new provisions of Regional Law No. 24 of 4
July 2008, until 2011 of the Ponente Savonese mountain community.
From 4 December 2014 to the spring of 2015 it was part of the
Union of Municipalities of the Riviera delle Palme e degli ulivi.
Former church of
Sant'Andrea in the hamlet of Borgo. The cult building was built on
the remains of a pre-existing chapel between 1594 and 1624 also
thanks to the funding given by the Balestrine family of Di Negri,
who emigrated to Spain.
Oratory of the Madonna di Marzo in the
hamlet of Borgo. Dating back to 1483, it was the seat of the
Confraternity of San Carlo.
Parish church of Sant'Andrea in the
hamlet of Poggio. Built in a modern style, replacing the previous
parish church no longer open to the public, it features the marble
altar of 1641 - the work of the sculptor Giovanni Orsolino - and a
marble pulpit with the noble coat of arms of the Del Carretto family
dated to 1702 and transferred here from the previous place of cult
of the Borgo.
Country church of San Giorgio in the hamlet of
Poggio, inside the municipal cemetery. Of ancient origin, probably
medieval, it was rebuilt in 1340 in a simple Romanesque style.
Inside it houses some cycles of 15th century frescoes depicting
saints, scenes from the Bible and a nativity scene in the
square-plan apse with cross vaults. The adjacent bell tower dates
back to the 12th century.
Chapel of Sant'Apollonia in the hamlet
of Bergalla. The building was built on the foundations of a
pre-existing place of worship dedicated to San Calocero.
Country
chapel of St. Anthony of Padua in the Cuneo district.
Sanctuary
of Reconciliation and Peace at Monte Croce (756 m), built after the
Marian apparitions (138 ascertained) which took place between
October 4, 1949 and November 5, 1986 to Caterina Richero, a resident
of Bergalla.
Castle of the Del
Carretto family. Imposing medieval building, overlooking the
abandoned village below. The complex was built between 1515 and 1559
by the Marquis Pirro II Del Carretto and architecturally revised
between 1812 and 1820 by his descendant, Domenico Donato III Del
Carretto. The renovation work saw the elimination of the Ghibelline
battlements of the keep in favor of a new roof and a staircase to
replace the old drawbridge.
Ruins of the Bava family castle in
the hamlet of Bergalla.
Cinema
In the old village of
Balestrino some scenes of the film Inkheart - The legend of the ink
heart of 2008 by Iain Softley and starring Brendan Fraser, Andy
Serkis and Helen Mirren were shot. In June 2019 the village returns
to the scene within the Games of Kings television series.
The municipal territory is made up of the
four hamlets of Bergalla, Borgo (municipal seat), Cuneo and Poggio
for a land area of 11.27 km²; the localities of Cà de Brenna,
Cascina, Caselle, Costigliole, Fossato, Pezzin, Sabain, Sambuco,
Tovo and Vallone, historically recognized by the Balestrinese
community, are also part of the district.
It borders to the
north with the municipalities of Castelvecchio di Rocca Barbena (on
whose border it placed its observatory of Massenaa) and Toirano, to
the south with Zuccarello, Cisano sul Neva and Ceriale, to the west
with Castelvecchio di Rocca Barbena and Zuccarello and to the east
with Toirano .
The old village
The old village of
Balestrino, now uninhabited and in ruins, also includes the Del
Carretto castle. The village had serious stability problems, caused
by numerous landslides and the landslide of the hill on which it
resides. In 1962-1963 it was rebuilt slightly further downstream;
from that moment the old village was abandoned and today it is in an
advanced state of ruin and has acquired the charm of a ghost town.
In 2013, due to the danger of collapses and for episodes of
crime that occurred inside, access to the old village was forbidden
to the public with the installation of three heavy gates. In 2015
the restoration works were started.