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| Witch's hat church steeple |
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| Mediaeval alleys inside Triora |
Further up the valley from Montalto are Triora and Molini di Triora, the latter being in the valley and having mills on the river, and the former being up on the side of the valley. They are not far above Montalto, but far enough on a winding road to be getting a bit too far from the sea. Both appear to be interesting towns in good repair, but Triora is the pick of the two. It was famous for witch trials in the late 1500s, and the town is full of witch-related sculpture, memorabilia and toys. Even the top of the church spire is bent like a witch’s hat. Quite apart from that it is thoroughly mediaeval and full of lovely little alleys and tunnels. Clearly it is popular with buyers, as every alley had a building being restored, and there is a huge museum of witchcraft being set up in the church square. We had written it off as a potential house village as we thought it was too far inland, and we still feel the same.
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| Romanesque chapel at Bestagno |
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| Potential house at Bestagno |
Our next stop was west along the coast to Imperia, where we walked through the city and back along the busy waterfront. Next inland from Imperia to a village called Bestagno where I had seen (on the internet) a village house for sale that looked to have potential. The drive up from Pontedassio on the valley floor to Bestagno was delightful, passing through a huge area of well-tended olives. It felt quite unlike anywhere else we had been to in Italy, probably because the land was more open and less steep. Up the hill sat Bestagno, with a decent square but no facilities of any sort. That wrote it off as a place to buy, but the individual house we were looking for turned out to be fascinating, with plenty of room and some amazing cellars underneath. Surprisingly, the village was generally in excellent condition, so presumably it is close enough to the big town of Imperia to be easily commuter distance.
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| Bridge at Taggia |
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| Imperia |
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| Bridge at Taggia |
Today was pretty warm, really a bit warm for the beach so we had a gelato at our bar in Arma di Taggia watching the final set of Monfils vs Ferrer in the French Tennis Open.
We stopped and had a look at the lovely bridge at Taggia - 15 arches built one after another as the river changed course over 6 centuries.
Our evening was taken up with a cleanup of our exchange apartment in Montalto, before we went out for a final dinner with Claus (our host). Unfortunately his wife was still in Hungary, so we didn’t meet her, but we had a very pleasant evening chatting with Claus. He is a combination real estate agent for this valley, and a house-finder, and a project manager for fixing up houses.
