Voltaggio
Discovering Voltaggio: a village in the Ligurian Apennines
If you are looking for a small village immersed in the nature of the Ligurian Apennines, Voltaggio may be the right place for you. Located in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont, this municipality of only 710 inhabitants is crossed by the Lemme stream and by three other watercourses that delimit subaltern valleys of the village. Moreover, together with Fraconalto, Voltaggio is one of the municipalities with the strongest Ligurian influences in the Alessandria area, maintaining close ties with the Genoese area.
A brief history of Voltaggio
The origins of Voltaggio date back to the Middle Ages: it was a village included in the Marca Obertenga and passed to the heirs of Oberto, the Malaspina family. During the wars between the Malaspina and Genoa at the end of the 12th century, the former had to give up this fiefdom, which passed into the property divided between the temporal power of the bishops of Tortona, the marquises of Gavi and the Republic of Genoa. Voltaggio changed hands several times, until it definitively passed to the Republic, which had begun to govern its territories starting from the end of the 12th century. During the Napoleonic period, under the Ligurian Republic, Voltaggio became part of the province of Novi which was part of Liguria, and subsequently, in 1859, with the Rattazzi law, it passed to the province of Alessandria and then to Piedmont.
During the 1990 World Cup, the village hosted the Costa Rican national football team, which played some matches at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa.
The symbols of Voltaggio
The emblem of the Municipality of Voltaggio was granted by decree of the President of the Republic on April 18th, 2006. The standard is a white flag.
Monuments and places of interest in Voltaggio
If you are passionate about religious architecture, the Church of Santa Maria Assunta and Saints Nazario and Celso is worth a visit. Inside it holds paintings by Sinibaldo Scorza, a local painter, and a wooden statue of Anton Maria Maragliano. In addition, the Franciscan Order convent built in 1595 and completed in 1604 hosts an interesting art gallery with religious works from the 16th to 18th centuries by artists from the Genoese and Lombard schools, such as Luca Cambiaso, Bernardo Strozzi, Lazzaro Tavarone, Domenico Fiasella, Gioacchino Assereto, Sinibaldo Scorza, Michelangiolo Bertolotto the Elder and Orazio De Ferrari. Don't miss the painting from 1694 with Saint Onuphrius (hermit), a work by Paolo Pagani. In addition, the convent houses a collection of Maragliano's nativity scene statues.
In conclusion, if you want to escape from the chaos of the city, immerse yourself in nature and discover the beauty of a small village immersed in the Ligurian Apennines, Voltaggio is the perfect place for you.
