The village of Apricale is located in the hinterland of Bordighera and Ventimiglia. The town has a medieval urban plan of enormous interest, both for its excellent conservation and for its mixed structure, formed by the enveloping or group central sector around the Castle. Its main economic resources are agriculture and tourism. Here the tourist can find the quiet that is needed for rest, meditate or work on an important project away from the noise and chaos of the city.
Brigar or Avrigà, in the Ligurian dialect, is a medieval hamlet perched in the hinterland of Bordighera, in the Val Nervia. On its hills it is produced a high-quality olive oil, from Taggia, and a typical wine made from Rossese grapes that you should really taste, in one of the taverns hidden among its alleys. This intricate ups and downs of perfectly preserved medieval streets, a stone labyrinth where time seems to stand still in the thirteenth century, is dominated by the Castello della Lucertola, in front of the main square of Apricale.
Pulsating heart of the village life, every year in this square are held many local events, such as new oil festival, St. Valentine’s Fair in February and the Pansarola Festival (a type of sweet pancakes, usually served along with hot zabaglione cream), on the second Sunday of September. Inside the castle there is the history museum of Apricale, where the famous 1267 Apricalesi Statutes are preserved, considered the oldest in the Liguria area. Apricale is also a very popular village and much loved by artists, especially painters, who painted fifty murals on the facades of houses. But the artistic suggestions are not limited to murals. On top of the bell tower of the parish church Purificazione della Maria Vergine, obtained from the adjoining square tower of the castle, a bicycle was fixed facing up to sky, by the contemporary artist Sergio Bianco, entitled La forza della non gravità (the power of no gravity). Since 2010, in partnership with the municipality, they opened the Albergo Diffuso, which allowed the recovery of old houses, medieval towers and caves scattered throughout the village, between ascents, descents and medieval walls.
Village of Apricale Municipality of Apricale Province of Imperia Liguria region
Population: 629 apricalesi Altitude Center: 273 m s.l.m.
the Municipality is part of: Borghi più belli d'Italia Paesi Bandiera Arancione Città dell'olio
Acknowledgments Orange Flag - Italian Touring Club
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If you want to celebrate the day of 25 April in a place of other times, Apricale will be for you: here it will seem to you to go back over the centuries, to the age of fairy tales of princesses and princes. Apricale, in fact, is a medieval village among the best preserved in Italy. Walking on the ancient sloping cobblestones, you will have the pleasant sensation of getting lost in a labyrinth made of narrow alleys that, fol...