Albenga

Three towers stand side by side here, each representing one of the powers of the medieval town: the Civic Tower, built in the late 13th or early 14th century; the 31-metre Town Hall tower, nicknamed Malasemenza, which held the town prison at its base in the 16th century; and the cathedral bell tower for the Church. Start here; you will keep coming back.

You can climb the Civic Tower on a paid guided visit, by reservation only and in a few morning slots with small groups. Book at the tourist information office inside Palazzo Vecchio.

The cathedral stands on an early Christian place of worship and has been enlarged and rebuilt many times. It has three naves and holds the relics of Saint Veranus of Cavaillon. The bell tower has a Romanesque base and a brick upper part rebuilt in 1391, a fine example of Ligurian Gothic. The green and white majolica spire dates from 1900, rebuilt after a lightning strike.

Next to the cathedral, Palazzo Vecchio was the seat of the medieval commune: the ground floor is 14th-century, the upper floor was rebuilt between 1387 and 1391. Since 1933 it has housed the Civico Museo Ingauno, with inscriptions, urns and fragments from Roman and Byzantine Albingaunum. The loggia, built in 1421, has a 1st-century AD floor mosaic and a large Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Canavesio from the late 15th century. The tourist office and the ticket desk for the civic museums are in the same building.

Behind the cathedral apse is the town’s most photographed little square. It is named after three stone lions brought from Rome in 1608 by the Costa family, who owned the medieval houses and tower around it. Come back in the evening, when it is at its quietest.

In Palazzo Peloso Cepolla on the main square, the museum named after archaeologist Nino Lamboglia tells the story of the Albenga Roman ship. It sank between 100 and 90 BC, about a mile offshore and more than 40 metres down, carrying over ten thousand wine amphorae. The 1950 investigations made it the first Roman ship explored on the Ligurian seabed. Inside you see around a hundred amphorae stacked as in a ship’s hold, on-board equipment and small personal objects, plus jars from an old pharmacy.

Check that it is open before you go: the official tourism website Scopri Albenga has listed it as temporarily closed to the public.

In Palazzo Oddo, the Magiche Trasparenze museum displays Roman glass found in the excavations of Albenga’s necropolis: cups, bottles and small containers, some remarkably intact. It is a short visit that works well with children and is part of the civic museum network, with a single ticket desk at the tourist office.

Beyond the three towers on the square you will spot many more as you walk: the Peloso Cepolla tower, the Oddo tower on Via Roma, the Navone tower on Via Medaglie d’Oro, the Costa tower above Piazza dei Leoni. Some are intact, others were cut down or absorbed into later houses. Keep looking up as you follow the two main streets and the side lanes, past shops, carved doorways and courtyards.

The small island you see from the beach belongs to Albenga: 21 hectares about one and a half kilometres offshore, now a regional nature reserve. Saint Martin of Tours retreated here in the 4th century, followed by a Benedictine monastery; the name comes from the wild hens mentioned by Latin writers. Today it hosts a large colony of yellow-legged gulls.

The island is private and landing is not allowed. You can circle it on a boat trip, mostly departing from Alassio, or dive its waters with an authorised diving centre.