History of Albenga

Albenga (“Albium Ingaunum”) is an ancient city, inhabited by the Ligurian “Ingauni”, which later became a Roman municipality. The etymology is similar to "Albium Intimilium (" Ventimiglia ") that has its roots in an ancient term,"Albon" (city), while the second term refers to people of “Ingauni”, who founded it, and were probably they engaged in commerce.

Indeed, G. Semerano writes that "[...] the ethnic name 'Ingauni' clarifies the nature of the population settled in the Ligurian coastal plain area, devoted to trade and commerce [...]" (See G. Semerano, "The Origins of European Culture ", Olschki, 1984, p. 554). “Albium Ingaunum”  was founded between the VI and IV century BC, but the place where it stood is uncertain.  Some scholars have suggested,  in any way,  that "[...] the old ‘Albium Ingaunum’ was probably located on the same area occupied then by the Roman city, which coincides with the modern Old Town [...] (See B. Massabò , "'Albingaunum': Archaeological tours of Albenga, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, 2004, p. 8).

In Roman times, Albenga was a  fortified “castrum”, with streets at right angles, forming a grid around two central streets, the "Cardo" and “Decumanus”. It, in essentials, was built in the Roman  Republican Age, but the perimeter of the city expanded outside the walls during the Empire, for the  inauguration, in 13 BC, of the “Via Iulia Augusta”. Albenga was an important Diocese since the fifth century AD, but it suffered several invasions by barbarians and Saracens.

The city had a considerable development between the eleventh and thirteenth century, and it retains memory of this period in some roads, like the way “Enrico d’Aste”, flanked by several medieval buildings of the thirteenth and fourteenth century, from which we see the Early monumental complex formed by the cathedral,  “Palazzo Vecchio del Comune”,  baptistery and numerous towers. During the crusades,  it was an important commercial center, and it became an independent municipality under the Emperor Frederick I (1122-1190),  supporting the imperial party against the papacy until 1172. In the first half of the XIII century,  it fought long against Genoa, to which it surrendered after the death of Frederick II (1194-1250) and to the domain of which it was subdued until 1625, when it was incorporated into the Duchy of Vittorio Amedeo of Savoy (1587-1637).

After the Congress of Vienna (1815), it was assigned, with Liguria, to the Kingdom of Sardinia.