Altare

The most recognisable building in town. It was built between 1905 and 1906 by Monsignor Giuseppe Giovanni Bertolotti, who named it after his sister Rosalia; the engineer Nicolò Campora designed it. It has the Art Nouveau style typical of early 20th-century villas, with a corner bay window and decorated windows. The State bought it in 1992 using its right of pre-emption and, after restoration, it became the home of the glass museum. The villa also holds a specialist glass library. You can see it well from the square outside even if you do not go in.

It began as the company museum of the SAV, the glassmakers’ cooperative, and is the best starting point for understanding Altare. The collection runs from 1650 to today, with everyday objects, glass for pharmacies and for chemistry, tools and moulds used in hand glassmaking, and multimedia displays explaining the stages of the work. In the garden there is a small demonstration furnace for blown glass, which the museum lights often during the year.

The opening times are not simple. Everything agrees that it is closed on Mondays. For October 2026 the museum’s own website shows winter hours, Tuesday to Saturday 14:00 to 18:00; the Ministry of Culture and museionline give Tuesday to Sunday 14:00 to 18:00. According to the Ministry listing, updated in May 2026, tickets are 7 € full and 5 € reduced. Before you set out, call the museum (019 584734) or write to info@museodelvetro.org ⚠️.

Altare still has the ruins of the melting furnace of the Racchetti glassworks, from the 17th to 18th century, considered the oldest surviving physical evidence of glassmaking in the area. It has been reported to the heritage authority and is protected; no visiting information or hours are published, so do not make a special trip: see the museum first and ask there where it is ⚠️.

The old centre is small and easy to walk. Among the covered passages is the Annibale Restagno archway, worth a photograph. Besides Villa Rosa, the town’s Art Nouveau villas include Villa Agar and Villa Bordoni, both from 1901; you look from outside, since they are not open to the public. The Ponte della Volta is first mentioned in 1232.

The Comune is at via Restagno 2. Its website has a section called «Vivere Altare» with pages on history, civil, religious and military architecture and the museum: worth a look before you leave, because it is the fullest source on the town.

The parish church, in the old centre. It was built between 1620 and 1650, heavily altered in 1875, and the façade, with two small bell towers, was partly rebuilt in 1901. Inside there is a single rectangular nave with four side chapels on each side and a wide presbytery.

This was the earliest parish church. The first church dates from the mid-12th century and was built by the Benedictine monks of Lérins from the monastery of Bergeggi; the present building is from 1650, paid for by the glassmaker Matteo Buzzone on the foundations of the earlier church. One detail links it to the rest of the town: the Benedictines are named as the probable origin of local glassmaking.

The oratory of San Rocco dates from 1590 and was originally dedicated to Saint Philibert, patron of glassmakers; it took the name of San Rocco after the plague of 1628–1631. Inside are statues of both saints, and on 16 August, the patron’s feast day, the statue of San Rocco is carried in procession. Restoration finished in 2008. The oratory of San Sebastiano is 16th-century, in Renaissance style, and until 2004 it housed the glass museum temporarily before it moved to Villa Rosa.

The Bocchetta di Altare, also called the Cadibona pass, is at 459 metres. By convention it is where the Ligurian Alps end and the Apennines begin, and a monument put up by the Alpine Committee marks the spot. State road 29 crosses it, and the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri path comes down to it. We have no marked and verified walk from Altare to the pass: ask the Comune for a map.