Resting on a hill surrounded by woods, the village of Cervo dominates the sea.
Delightful seaside resort on the Ligurian coast of Ponente, is one of the most picturesque towns of our seas.
Once proclaimed itself a free municipality, at the beginning of the XIII century, it was placed under the protection of the powerful Republic of Genoa which, in the first half of the XIV century, entrusted it as a fief to the Knights of Malta who sold it to the Marquis the following year Lazzaro Doria. Cervo then returned to the Genoese at the end of the fourteenth century to remain always faithful.
The period marked by the raids of Turks and Saracens, closed with the battle of Lepanto in 1571, which greatly reduced the danger of the Saracens, succeeded the golden age of Cervo that with the trade in oil and coral fishing was enriched greatly.
Unchanged over time, the historic center of Cervo is to be discovered little by little along the picturesque alleys that rise from the sea to the height on which stands the church of San Giovanni Battista, also called “dei Corallini” because it was built with the contribution of coral fishermen. Built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it offers a beautiful baroque façade and opulent interiors enriched with works and marbles.
Walking along Via Grimaldi-Salineri you reach Piazza Santa Caterina where the Castello dei Clavesana stands, the Marquises who built it in the seventeenth century, home to the Ethnographic Museum which houses thousands of artefacts illustrating the maritime and peasant culture, with furniture, furnishings and mannequins which recompose the environments of the time.
In the suggestive intertwining of alleys that alternate the colorful facades of the buildings with the spectacular views of the sea, there are other buildings that tell the story of this beautiful Ligurian town like the church of San Nicola da Tolentino, Palazzo Morchio, the town hall, the fourteenth century Oratory of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria and the Tower of Sant’Antonio, built on the tip of Capo Cervo against the raids of the Saracens.
Oil, wine and seafood are the delights of local delicacies.
Olive Taggiasche –Â Photo lovemeinitaly.com
You can not leave the village of Cervo without having bought a bottle of the excellent extra virgin olive oil produced on the hills that frame the village, or maybe a jar of olive patè or the delicious Taggiasca olives.
Vermentino is instead the wine of this land of sea and hills, straw-yellow in color, to be drunk young and to be served at a maximum temperature of 12 degrees. A wine that goes well with seafood appetizers and lasagna with pesto, but also with stuffed vegetables.
Vermentino that must not miss when you sit at the table in one of the restaurants of the village, to accompany the rich variety of local fish dishes. Among appetizers, pasta and main courses you will be spoiled for choice.
