| Freight | ||
 | ||
| State | Italy | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Liguria | |
| Territory | Riviera di Ponente | |
| Altitude | 2 m a.s.l. | |
| Surface | 9.67 km² | |
| Inhabitants | 2.797 (year 2011) | |
| Name inhabitants | Nolesi | |
| Prefix tel | 39 019 | |
| POSTAL CODE | 17026 | |
| Time zone | UTC 1 | |
| Patron | Sant'Eugenio (second Sunday in July) | |
Position
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| Institutional website | ||
Freight is a city of Liguria.
To know
It is part of the most beautiful villages in Italy. From 1192 to 1797 it was the capital of the Republic of Noli, and had a certain autonomy despite being linked to the Republic of Genoa.
Geographical notes
Noli is located on the coast of Riviera di Ponente, in an inlet closed to the east by the island of Bergeggi and to the south-west by the cape of the same name at the mouth of the Luminella stream. It is 13 km from Borgio Verezzi, 12 from Finalborgo, 15 from Savona.
Background
Ancient center of the Ligurians, it was a town hall in Roman times. In the Middle Ages it was a Byzantine base; destroyed in 641 by the Lombards, it was completely rebuilt near the sea. It was the domain of the Franks of Charlemagne and when the Carolingian empire was dismembered it was included in the possessions of the Marca Aleramica and of the Del Carretto family of the branch of Savona.
It later became an important maritime center, with a conspicuous and well-prepared naval fleet on a par with other large maritime centers in Liguria, participated in the first crusade in 1099, receiving political, but above all commercial, privileges from the king of Jerusalem Baldwin I, from the feudal lord Boemondo I of Antioch and by Tancredi of Sicily.
It was a fiefdom of Enrico II Del Carretto until 1193 when, with an official deed drawn up inside the local church of San Paragorio, he gradually managed to escape from the marquis power of the Del Carretto family with the sale of the ancient Carretto rights; recent studies confirm that the act may have already taken place in 1192. The privileges acquired by the citizens of Noli were fully confirmed in 1196 by Henry VI of Swabia, popular emancipation that will soon lead the village to become a free municipality (one of the first after Genoa is Savona) and in a free independent Republic with balanced statutes and municipal regulations, considered among the oldest in the Liguria.
The Guelph independence of the Nolese republic, tightened to the east by the Municipality of Savona and to the west by the ever growing Marquisate of Finale, was even more solid with the strategic political and commercial alliance, from 1202, with the Republic of Genoa; the documents of the time, preserved in the municipal historical archive, clearly mention an agreement "with equal rights between the parties", that is, without a prevarication towards one another. Now an ally of the Genoese, the Nolese naval fleet fought against Pisa for commercial supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea and against Venice for seafaring trades in the Middle East. During the thirteenth century Noli was equipped with further fortifications and over seventy city towers closing the village in a wall. The political and military alignment towards the cause of the Lombard League against Frederick II of Swabia favored the recognition by Pope Gregory IX of the constitution, in 1239, of the diocese of Noli; the separation from the Savona curia lasted until 1820 with the subsequent unification of the current diocese of Savona-Noli.
The expansion of the Republic of Noli - which at its maximum splendor reached domination in the neighboring villages of Orco, Mallare, Segno and Vado - lasted until the end of the fourteenth century when the narrow port, which offered refuge and stability during the medieval era , it turned out instead by now inadequate for the important commercial traffic of the time, almost bringing Noli to a maritime isolation; the same inhabitants from skilled and daring sailors soon turned into simple fishermen. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Noli and its small maritime republic therefore experienced internal political difficulties, aggravated by the increasingly grueling fights with the marquisate of Finale and Savona, pirate invasions, nearby Piedmontese, Lombard and Spanish dominations and famines and epidemics. In 1673 a conspiracy of some inhabitants of Noli risked to overthrow the republic in the hands of the Savoy duchy; the intervention of senator Antonio Viale, sent by the Genoese senate at the request of the Noli consuls, calmed the brief revolt.
Just as the Republic of Genoa and the rest of Liguria were occupied by Napoleonic troops in 1797, despite the heavy naval bombardment by the English fleet in 1795 against the French. severely bombed, at 4 pm on 1 August, by the fleet of the English navy. In 1815 Noli was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia, as established by the Congress of Vienna in 1814, and subsequently into the Kingdom of Italy from 1861.
How to orient yourself
Noli: full screen map.Neighborhoods
Its municipal territory includes the centers of Tosse and Voze.
How to get
How to get around
What see
- 1 Monte Ursino Castle. The first plant was built starting from the twelfth century as well as the connected walls to defend the village. The current appearance and shape can be dated to the reconstruction of 1552, by the captain Andrea da Bergamo and on the advice of the Republic of Genoa, especially in the adaptation of the towers and walls to the new war defense instruments. The circular keep is enclosed by a polygonal fence, with irregular shapes, with the remains of two visibly more recent towers. The same hill preserves ancient elements and constructions of the primitive settlement of Noli during the rule of the Del Carretto family in the 12th century.
- 2 St. Peter's Cathedral (San Pietro dei Pescatori), Cathedral Square. On site it is also known as the church of San Pietro dei Pescatori, a denomination that originates from the tithes of the proceeds from fishing on holidays collected in the thirteenth century for the construction of the first religious structure. Only in 1572 - with the transfer of the title of cathedral from the church of San Paragorio - did the ancient name change into today's title to the apostle Peter.
- The first structure of the cathedral is ascribable to the 12th or 13th century, a period to which the adjacent bell tower, the perimeter walls of the church and the internal pillars date back. The building was transformed starting from the second half of the 16th century, when the ancient cathedral of San Paragorio became dangerous as it was outside the city walls. The territory was in fact threatened at the time by the Spanish troops who had conquered the marquisate of Finale. The transfer of the title of cathedral took place with the Papal Bull of Gregory XIII on 22 October 1572.
- The appearance of the building perfectly reveals the Baroque overlap of the interior and the facade on the pre-existing Romanesque structure, which is highlighted in particular in the single-light windows of the side walls and in the bases of the internal pillars. The central door, from 1611, is surmounted on the outside by a broken tympanum on which a statue of St. Peter was affixed in 1613, the work of master Batta Casale.
- The interior is developed in three naves embellished with gilded stuccoes and illuminated by polychrome stained glass windows with religious themes. The central vault is dominated by the modern fresco by Giovanni Rovero (1885-1971), while in the presbytery the 19th century frescoes are the work of the painter Lazzaro De Maestri. The high altar of 1679, in inlaid polychrome marble, is the work of Anselmo Quadro. The table, on the other hand, was obtained from a 4th century African sarcophagus, remodeled in the 15th century, where the relics of Saint Eugene were kept for centuries, first buried on the island of Bergeggi, then moved to the church of San Paragorio and then in 1602 in this cathedral of San Pietro. On the left is the bishop's chair in ebony wood, the work of Paolo Noceto from 1614. On the back wall, behind the altar, stands the fifteenth-century polyptych, attributed to Vincenzo Foppa, from the Vescovado church.
- In the right aisle there is an eighteenth-century wooden group depicting the Annunciation, the work of Giovanni Battista Maragliano, a relative of the more famous Anton Maria Maragliano. Continuing towards the presbytery you will find on the left the inlaid marble pulpit of 1679, the work of Anselmo Quadro. : On the right, instead, is the seventeenth-century altar of Sant'Eugenio, in which the relics of the Saint are placed. On the counter façade, above the entrance, is the Mascioni organ (work no.289) from 1909.
- The treasure of the cathedral includes a reliquary of Saint Eugene dated to 1430, a processional cross in silver from 1417, the pallium of Saint Eugene from the fifteenth century.
- 3 Church of San Paragorio. Located outside the Nolese city walls, it is included among the Italian national monuments and among the oldest architectural elements of Noli; the suburban church was the first cathedral of the village and its diocese. In Romanesque style, with an apse facing the sea, it was built around the 11th century on a pre-existing early Christian or early medieval structure. Excavations carried out between the years 1970 and 1975 revealed the remains of an ancient necropolis, with the discovery of two stone sarcophagi from Finale, and an octagonal baptismal font datable between the 6th and 7th centuries.
- 4 Church of San Francesco d'Assisi. It is located outside the Nolese city walls. Dating back to the mid-thirteenth century and formerly a convent, the orientation of the building was reversed in the second half of the seventeenth century without modifying the perimeter walls, adapting the back wall of the apse to a new facade. On the north side there are single lancet windows and a Gothic portal. Currently it hosts, in the summer period, the college of the Regular Clerics of San Paolo.
- 5 Church of San Giovanni Battista, Via Cavalieri di Malta. According to historical sources, the religious structure was built by the Order of the Jerusalemites around a period dating back to the 13th century. The church is still located outside the walls of Noli, at the gate called San Giovanni. Cited as a preceptory in 1417, the religious complex probably also included a hospitable annex for the assistance and shelter of pilgrims.
- Already in the sixteenth century the only rectangular hall of the church was enlarged in height; however the most significant expansion works took place between the 17th and 18th centuries. In a plan by the cartographer of the Republic of Genoa Matteo Vinzoni, datable to 1713, it is evident that the structure still had the previous and opposite orientation in that historical context.
- 6 Church of Our Lady of Grace. The origins of the building could date back to the year one thousand. In a description of 1585 made by Monsignor Nicolò Mascardi it is described as a chapel with a single nave with a wooden beam ceiling, a lime floor and a bell tower to the east. The current appearance is the result of interventions carried out between 1769 and 1775 at the behest of the Nolese bishop, Monsignor Antonio Maria Arduini. Internally it is presented in Genoese Baroque style. A plaque on the counter façade recalls how the current church was obtained from an ancient building. The structure is part of the Vescovado complex, having been Noli an autonomous diocese from 1239 to 1820. From the square in front of the church you can enjoy a spectacular view over the bay of Noli.
- Church of Santa Margherita and church of Santa Giulia. The two buildings are leaning against each other - Santa Giulia to the east and Santa Margherita to the west - overlooking the sea at the rocky spur of Capo Noli. The complex, reachable on foot through an ancient path, is made up of two brick churches following the Romanesque style. Mentioned in a document dated 1191, the building housed a hermitage of the Knights of Jerusalem. The two churches suffered serious damage during the Second World War, reducing them to a state of ruin.
- 7 city Hall. From the 14th-15th century, the seat of the consuls and of the government of the Republic of Noli, the palace underwent various transformations between 1797 and 1820. On the façade towards the sea promenade there are, in addition to the restored sundial, four ogival multi-lancet windows, partly blind and partly restored. Inside the 17th-century Council Room, fragments of fresco cycles from the late Middle Ages are preserved, coming from the Porta di San Giovanni.
- Viale-Salvarezza Palace. The seventeenth-century building, recast between already existing medieval buildings, was built around the 12th-century tower of the Marina and another smaller one. The palace was commissioned by the senator of the Republic of Genoa Antonio Viale, sent to the Nolese republic by the Doge Giovanni Battista Lercari in 1643 to put an end to the conspiracy of some inhabitants who would have handed Noli into the hands of the Duke of Savoy. The descendants of the Viale family lived there for the entire following century until it was sold to the Salvarezza family. Despite some interventions we modified some parts of the building in the seventies of the twentieth century, it retains several remains of the external decoration of the facade. Until the recent restorations, the façade retained, stuck, a cannonball fired by the Wizard brig of the English fleet during the naval bombardment of 1808.
- 8 Episcopal Palace. The current building, located at the foot of the hill of Mount Ursino, is the result of the various renovations that followed one another from 1554 to the nineteenth century. Little is left and little is the historical knowledge on the original layout of the building; however, the sources mention the presence of a prison and a chapel intended for the clergy. Adjacent to the palace is the church of Nostra Signora delle Grazie.
- Pagliano House. Built in the 14th century and restored in 1906 by Angelo Demarchi, assistant to the architect Alfredo d'Andrade, its interior was considerably transformed in this reinterpretation. The exterior looks like the typical medieval Nolese house: a base in large ashlars in local green stone with few openings and an upper part in brick with mullioned windows and three-mullioned windows. It was the seat of the Order of the Knights of Malta.
- House Maglio. The building has the typical medieval elements of the first half of the thirteenth century; it has an ogival arched portal.
- Repetto House. Located to the right of the cathedral of San Pietro, it was built in the 14th century around an ancient and pre-existing tower, the latter with already three-mullioned windows on the first floor and mullioned windows on the upper floor; the building was partially restored with the intervention of the architect Alfredo d'Andrade.
- 9 Loggia of the Republic. Coeval of the town hall, with the ancient cobblestones still maintained today, it consists of two large brick arches resting on an octagonal-shaped column with an ashlar capital, a typical element of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Some tombstones under the loggia testify to the passage of the various personalities, including Dante Alighieri, with mention of Noli in the Purgatory of the Divine Comedy, Cristoforo Colombo on May 31, 1476 leaving for Portugal and Giordano Bruno in 1576.
- 10 Town Hall Tower. Built at the end of the 13th century, it is adjacent to the town hall. Almost intact and finished with dovetail battlements, it has a base in local green stone and an upper part in brick.
- 11 Torre and Porta Papona. Built in the 13th-14th century outside the ancient walls of the village and connected, with a brick arch, to the walkway that descends from the castle of Monte Ursino, the building was over the centuries a depot of arms and ammunition of the Republic. It has mullioned windows and mullioned windows in the Gothic style.
- 12 Canto Tower (Tower of the Quattro Canti). The high tower is trapezoidal in shape with a compact shaft and with sparse Romanesque-style openings in the lower part.
- 13 Porta di Piazza. It was the main and central access to the village, defended by the second walls of the 12th and 13th centuries. In the second half of the sixteenth century the gate was equipped with a "ravelin", a defensive bulwark that remained active until the nineteenth century. The fresco, visible from the sea side, depicts the Assumption and was repainted in 1927.
- Bridge over the Sant'Antonio stream. The ancient bridge, overhanging the dry stream, followed the ancient road layout of the Napoleonic era; it retains, despite the numerous consolidation interventions, structural elements and medieval style appearance.
Events and parties
- Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (to Vpze).
June 29. Procession of crucifixes. - Patronal feast of Sant'Eugenio. The second Sunday of July. With procession of crucifixes.
- Feast of St. Ignatius (in the hamlet of Tosse). The 31st of July. With procession of crucifixes.
- Feast of Saints Anna and Joachim. Last Sunday of August. With procession of crucifixes
June 29. Procession of crucifixes.What to do
Shopping
How to have fun
Where to eat
Where stay
Safety
How to keep in touch
- 1 Italian post, Via Monastero 157, ☎ 39 019 748968, fax: 39 019 748899.
Around
- Borgio Verezzi - It is part of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
- Finalborgo - It is part of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
