Cervo ( lij, O Çervo) is a small, ancient town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'', built on top of a hill along the

Italian Riviera The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( it, Riviera ligure; lij, Rivêa lìgure) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinall ...

in the province of

Imperia Imperia (; lij, Inpêia or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Muss ...

. It has approximately 1,200 inhabitants.

Overview

The settlement began as a Roman mansion along the

Via Julia Augusta The Via Julia Augusta (modern Italian Via Giulia Augusta) is the name given to the Roman road formed by the merging of the Via Aemilia Scauri with the Via Postumia. The road runs from Placentia (modern Piacenza) to Arelate (modern Arles), init ...

. Slowly expanding, it became, in medieval times, a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

of the

Clavesana Clavesana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about south of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 845 and an area of .All demographics and o ...

marquis, who was a subject of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

, to which Cervo had always been faithful. The present character of Cervo dates from these times: 16th-century towers and ramparts still protect the village. One of its main attractions is the fine

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church of St. John the Baptist, overlooking the sea. The Romanesque Oratorio di Santa Caterina contain 18th-century

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es. The medieval Clavesana stronghold hosts the Ethnographic Museum of Western Liguria and the Palazzo Viale-Citati. Inhabitants used to earn a living from coral fishing in the

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

n and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

n seas, in addition to growing olives and seafaring, but the modern economy of Cervo is based on tourism and agriculture. Cervo's connections with classical music date from to 1964, when the

International Chamber Music Festival of Cervo The International Chamber Music Festival of Cervo was inaugurated in 1964, the brainchild of the renowned Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh. It is held every July and August in the picturesque church square of Cervo, a small, ancient town in Lig ...

was established by the Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh. The event has been held every summer ever since. Music master classes – ''Accademia di Cervo'' – are held in September, and a guitar academy is held in June.

Twin towns/sister cities

Cervo is twinned with: *

Cervo, Lugo Cervo, is a municipality in the Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuis ...

, Spain (2008)

In popular culture

Part of the 1993 German film ''

Stalingrad Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...

'' was filmed in Cervo.

References

External links

*
Summer music academy
Cities and towns in Liguria Italian Riviera {{Liguria-geo-stub

Overview

Twin towns/sister cities

In popular culture

See also

References

External links