Liguria

LIGURIA. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - It is, among the Italian regions, the least extensive (5411 sq. km.), but one of the most densely populated and economically most important. It corresponds to the southern slope of the Alps and of the Ligurian Apennines, with small strips of the northern slope, and thus constitutes the natural outlet to the Mediterranean not only of the richest part of the Po plain, but also of a considerable sector of central Europe.

The mountain looms steeply over a rocky coast or one enclosed by narrow strips of beach. Arable land is scarce, but admirably put to use (fruit, early produce, flowers, vegetables); commerce (ports, railways) and industries (shipbuilding, metallurgical, mechanical, textile) enliven the activity of a population almost entirely concentrated (barely 10% of the population is scattered, in L.) on the narrow coastal fringe. Together with neighboring Lombardy, L. is the only Italian region in which the highest percentage of the active population can be attributed to industrial activity (38%). The very mild climate and the amenity of the landscape make this region a succession of renowned winter and summer climatic resorts. The major inhabited centers generally correspond to Roman settlements: two of them exceed 100,000 inhabitants and constitute, the one the most active commercial port (Genoa), the other (La Spezia) the foremost military port of Italy.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. HISTORY

The region takes its name from the ancient population of the Ligurians, of Mediterranean stock, who occupied many centuries before the 3rd century B.C. (when the Romans began their advance toward the north) a large part of northern Italy and of southern France, pushing even into the Iberian peninsula; in Roman antiquity the name of L. extended also to the Po valley south of the Po and to the east, to the upper valley of the Taro and the middle valley of the Trebbia; within these boundaries L. constituted the IX Regio Augusta; in the time of Diocletian L. also included the whole of present-day Piedmont and a large part of Lombardy; then it gradually shrank until it comprised, as now, only almost the entire Tyrrhenian slope of the Alps and the Apennines, from the basin of the Roia to that of the Magra.

Now divided into the three provinces of Imperia, Genoa and La Spezia, it comprises the bishoprics of Ventimiglia (established in the 6th century), of Albenga (already existing in the 5th century), of Noli (established in 1239, later abolished), of Vado (from 680, and then of Savona from 999), of Genoa (which tradition traces back to St. Barnabas and which was a metropolitan see from the 12th century), of Chiavari, of Brugnato (on the La Spezia-Bracco road) established in 1133, later modified in the 19th century into the bishopric of Luni-Sarzana and now into the bishopric of La Spezia; until 1768 the bishoprics of Corsica also depended on the metropolitan of Genoa, and until 1860 the bishop of Nice.

The era of the entry of Christianity into L., considered in its present extent, is uncertain; what is repeated about the coming of St. Barnabas, of Sts. Nazarius and Celsus and then of St. Calimerus, bishop of Milan, of Sts. Marcellinus, Vincent and Donninus is legend; it appears that no persecution raged there, because even the Ligurian Sts. Secundus and Calocerus suffered martyrdom outside the region; there is also talk of St. Lawrence, who on coming from Spain to Rome would have stopped at Genoa, around 260, in the place where the Genoese Cathedral was later to be erected, consecrated in the 12th century. It is certain, however, that Christianity already flourished there between the 3rd and 4th centuries.

The history of L., understood within its modern boundaries, is the local history of the individual cities and the individual valleys; the Ligurians, the ancient inhabitants of the country, themselves split into tribes, largely independent of one another, for example, the Ingauni (center Albenga), the Intemelii (center Ventimiglia), the Sabates (perhaps center Savona), the Tigulii (center Sestri Levante), the Liguri Montani and others, not counting the Ligurian tribes of the Po valley. Romanization came about through the founding of the Roman colony of Genua (before 218 B.C.) and then through wars, some very arduous, in the 2nd century B.C.; by around 150 the whole riviera could be said to be in Roman possession, linked by sea with the principal ports of the Tyrrhenian, but by land united with the rest of the Roman world by means of the Via Postumia (148 B.C.), through Libarna, Deriona, Iria (= Voghera) and Piacenza and later, and shortly before 100 B.C., by means of the Via Aemilia Scauri, which through Aquae Statiellae (= Acqui) descended to Vada Sabatia (= Vado). The coastal road, already traced in individual stretches by the peoples of the riviera, had in the 1st century B.C. and then in the age of Augustus its complete development, first between Luni and Genoa, and was called by extension Via Aurelia, and then between Genua and Nicaea (= Nice) and goes under the name of Julia Augusta.

Obscure are the notices about maritime L. in the early Middle Ages; it was sacked by Heruli and Goths and finally by the Lombards, who made of it, as is probable, a duchy; obscure too are the vicissitudes of the first Ligurian bishoprics, where the heretical movements of the first centuries and especially Arianism certainly did not take hold; indeed, in those times Genoa became a refuge of the Catholics.

In the 10th century L. is divided into three Marches: Arduinica

(western), Aleramica (central), Obertenga (eastern), then fragmented in the 11th and 12th centuries by feudalism; except that the rights of the marquises and counts then found their greatest obstacle in the opposition of the bishops until the new communal organisms arose and especially that of Genoa, which tended to obtain primacy over the other inhabited centers of the riviera. In this work of expansion the commune of Genoa was in agreement with its bishop, who did not hesitate to withdraw, once the commune had established itself over its neighbors, churches belonging to other circumscriptions in order to subject them to its own. As happened, for example, in the 12th century with the churches of Portovenere, occupied by the Genoese and withdrawn from the bishop of Luni and transferred to the bishop of Genoa; and notable struggles were fought, especially on the western riviera, around Ventimiglia and San Remo, in which the authority of the bishops was implicated in feudal and communal struggles; nor were relations with the papacy always tranquil, as the interdicts against Genoa of the 13th and 15th centuries and those against Savona of the 14th century demonstrate; in 1453 Paolo da Campo Fregoso is simultaneously cardinal archbishop and doge of the Genoese Republic. Then the protection of the emperors for this or that city intervened in the struggles between Genoa and the other small maritime republics of the west (and in the first place Savona), until in 1528, with Savona subdued, the Genoese State could be said to be extended to both rivieras. In the 18th century the Savoys began to assert their dominion. And after the Napoleonic wars and the Restoration, in 1815 L. became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The array of Ligurian saints is not very numerous: known in the 4th or 5th century are St. Ampelius, anchorite, and then St. Venerius, and a series of saints in the 15th and 16th centuries and also St. Leonard of Port Maurice; one also notes St. Syrus, bishop of Genoa, in the 6th century and the blessed James of Varagine (= Varazze), bishop and writer of the 13th century.

About sixty sanctuaries, of which many are gathered on the mountains that dominate the sea or in the valleys of the interior: one of the most ancient is without doubt the sanctuary of the Madonna di Savoia, near Monterosso al Mare, which is traced back to the 8th century; others go back to the 12th century, such as that of Nostra Signora del Monte near Genoa and the sanctuary of the Coronata at Cornigliano Ligure; others to the 14th century, such as St. Bartholomew of the Armenians at Genoa and the sanctuary of the Acqua Santa near Voltri; or to the 15th century such as the Sanctuary of Nostra Signora d'Oregina in Genoa; to the 16th century belong the sanctuary of St. Mary of Montallegro near Rapallo with an adjoining hospice for pilgrims; and still later the sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Vittoria, near the Giovi pass; those of the Madonna di Lampedusa near Castellaro di Taggia, and of the Madonna del Soccorso at Pietra Ligure; the Madonna della Guardia above Arma di Taggia; the sanctuary of St. Lucy near Borghetto S. Spirito, and the sanctuary of the Madonna della Guardia between Varazze and Cogoleto.

III. REGION

LIGURIAN CONCILIAR.
— Whereas all the historical regions of Italy were included in the circular of 24 Aug. 1889 for episcopal conferences and in the motu proprio Qua Cura of 8 Dec. 1938 for tribunals, the consistorial decree of 15 Feb. 1919 expressly excludes, along with others, the L. [Liguria], because in it the ecclesiastical province of Genoa practically groups together all the dioceses that have their seat in the region.

Accordingly the Ligurian region, ecclesiastically, unites around the metropolitan see of Genoa the suffragan dioceses of Albenga, Bobbio, Chiavari, Luni or La Spezia with Sarzana and Brugnato, Savona and Noli, Tortona. In Genoa the Ligurian regional tribunal is also constituted, with matrimonial competence in first-instance judgments, which is also competent for appeals from the Lombard regional tribunal. In turn the Ligurian regional tribunal has as its court of appeal the Piedmontese regional tribunal (Turin). The plenary regional councils in this specific case are simply provincial, for the reasons set out above, and therefore follow the norms of cann. 283 ff.

Agostino Pugliese

IV. ART

The oldest evidence of Ligurian civilization is prehistoric. The deposits of the "Arené Candide" and of the "Balzi Rossi" constitute a substantial record of the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages, and are the most important existing in Italy. To the protohistoric period, on the other hand, belong the archaic necropolis found in the excavations of Via XX Settembre in Genoa, and other remains at Savignone, Ameglia and the Celtic deposits of the Val di Magra. Roman civilization left, besides the imposing remains of Luni (on the border with Tuscany), remains at Ventimiglia, Albenga, Genoa and other localities.

1. Architecture

Already in the Middle Ages the Ligurians reveal particular experience in the art of building. Remains of mighty architecture still exist in the lands once under their dominion and in Genoa, here visible in the remains of the walls erected in defense against the incursions of Barbarossa in 1155 and in the restored Porta Soprana. To the 12th century also belongs the beautiful tower of the Embriaci, now made more prominent by the demolition of the surrounding houses, caused by the bombings of the last war. Tower-houses were built during the 12th and 13th centuries in Genoa, Savona and Albenga. With the advent of the Gothic the forms become more graceful: some examples of this period remain in civil building, as in Genoa the Palazzo Spinola and that of the Doria in Piazza S. Matteo.

Romanesque architecture also had in L. an eminently religious development. One recalls, again in Genoa, S. Donato (with its characteristic and rare tiburio), S. Giovanni di Prè, the SS. Cosma and Damiano, S. Maria di Castello, and others; while the cathedral of S. Lorenzo, whose construction was long and tormented, only in part goes back to the Romanesque age. Outside Genoa one recalls the baptistery of Albenga, perhaps of the 5th century, the oldest sacred building of L., the so-called Christian basilica of Luni (only the ruins remain), and, among the other innumerable examples of Romanesque architecture, the S. Paragorio of Noli, of the end of the 11th century, with a plan of very rare forms.

With the Renaissance (which arrived quite late) art, naturally, had new developments. Its greatest masters were above all Montorsoli and Pierin del Vaga, called to build and decorate the Palazzo of Andrea Doria (Palazzo Principe); it is from this moment that Genoese architecture moves toward new splendor, thanks first to Alessi, and then to Bartolomeo Bianco, Rocco Lurago, etc. In the sixteenth century the Via Nuova

(today Garibaldi) was built, rightly considered one of the most beautiful and harmonious in the world. The narrow and steep configuration of the Genoese terrain induced the architects to give their buildings a scenographic character, so that they appear embellished by hanging gardens, perspective stairways, etc. One recalls the Villa delle Peschiere, those Cambiaso in Albaro and Scassi at Sampierdarena, all by Alessi; the Palazzo imperiale by G. B. Castello; the Palazzo Doria Tursi by Rocco Lurago, and that of the University by Bartolomeo Bianco. To Alessi is also owed the most beautiful Genoese church of the Renaissance, S. Maria di Carignano, grand and solemn in its central-plan form, which seems to echo the projects left by Bramante for S. Pietro. Of central scheme is also the chapel of N. S. di Loreto, near Finale; and likewise the little church of S. Maria della Rotonda in the plain of Albenga, which nevertheless seems to recall constructions much further back in time. The architectural taste initiated by Alessi persists in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, even amid the changing of styles, and not only in Genoa, but throughout much of L. (Palazzo reale by G. A. Falcone and P. F. Cantone); while in the religious architecture of the Baroque period the most beautiful example in Genoa remains the basilica of the S.ma Annunziata (much damaged by the war and undergoing restoration). Of the Neoclassical period one recalls the facade of this church and the Carlo Felice theater, whose interior, however, was destroyed during the Second World War. The city underwent great building development in the second half of the nineteenth century (Via XX Settembre) and now boasts the tallest "skyscrapers" in Europe.

2. Sculpture

The documents of Romanesque sculpture are scanty, among which is to be remembered a wooden crucifix (akin to the "Volto Santo" of Lucca) in the little church-sanctuary of S. Croce, on the steep slopes above the Bocche del Magra. At S. Margherita, on the exterior of the church of the Cappuccini, is preserved a Madonna with Child, not unmindful of the contemporary Provençal sculpture. Remains of Romanesque sculpture also exist in Genoa. In the Gothic period, Giovanni Pisano in Genoa (tomb of Margaret of Brabant) and Giovanni di Balduccio at Sarzana leave distinguished documents of their activity. In the fifteenth century Lombard sculptors flow into the region, among whom the Gagini stand out, bearers of Renaissance taste in decorative forms of great plastic prominence, proper to northern manners. Their activity was directed above all to the decoration of portals, some of which are deservedly famous (that of Piazza S. Matteo, in Genoa, by Giovanni Gagini; another in Via Davide Chiossone, by Pace Gagini, and so on). The activity of the Gagini extended into the sixteenth century. Contemporaneously with them worked Gaspare della Scala and Nicolò da Corte. Between 1539 and 1547 there were in Genoa G. A. Montorsoli (Palazzo Principe), Giacomo and Bartolomeo della Porta and others.

In the seventeenth century the Baroque manners were brought to Genoa by the Frenchman Pietro Puget; but Bernardo and Francesco Schiaffino also emerged, very sensitive to the art of Bernini (Bernardo's masterpiece: the Rape of Proserpina, in the Palazzo reale of Genoa). Domenico and Filippo Parodi finally gave impulse to a fertile school that continued into the eighteenth century, and found in Maragliano artists who distinguished themselves particularly in wooden sculpture. The documents of nineteenth-century sculpture are for the most part among the tombs of the cemetery of Stagliese.

3. Painting

A mosaic of the 6th century is found in the baptistery of Albenga. In the cathedral of Sarzana is preserved the precious Crucifix of Guglielmo (1138), the oldest Romanesque painting of L. The documents of thirteenth-century painting are scanty (the frescoes at Sampierdarena, in S. Maria della Cella, and those, detached, by Manfredino da Pistoia in Genoa reveal the influence of Tuscan art). In the fourteenth century Sienese painting exerts its ascendancy, and leaves works in L. The best-known local painter is then Nicolò da Voltri, not unaware of the art of the Modenese Barnaba, active in the region until the early fifteenth century. In the course of the latter century Tuscan, Lombard, Piedmontese and even ultramontane influences follow one another. The most notable local painters are Giovanni Barbagelata (polyptych of the Parrocchiale of Varazze), Agostino Casanova and finally, the greatest of all, Ludovico Brea, head of the Ligurian-Nice school. Also active in the region were the Piedmontese Luca Baudo, Giovanni Masone and finally, among others, Vincenzo Foppa, whose influence on the local masters, still tied to the Gothic, and on Brea himself, was very fruitful. One also recalls Giovanni Canavesio, who worked in western L., but was of Piedmontese origin. Finally active is the enigmatic painter Carlo del Mantegna (Carlo Braccesco), of whom a famous polyptych remains in the sanctuary of Monte Grazie (Imperia).

While Teramo Piaggio and Antonio Semino, in the full sixteenth century, still indulged in fifteenth-century forms, Pierin del Vaga brought to Genoa a breath of new life, decorating the Palazzo Principe in fresco. In the sixteenth century begins the true history of Genoese painting, thanks above all to Luca Cambiaso, a great fresco painter, to Semino, and to Tavarone. But the glory greater glory came with the seventeenth century, when the Genoese school established itself as one of the most important in Italy. Under the influence of many currents (Tuscan, Lombard, Venetian and Flemish) the exuberant art of Strozzi sprang forth, to which Venetian painting itself is indebted. And then Domenico Fiasella, Valerio Castello, Orazio and Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari, Bartolomeo Guidobono, etc., made this school illustrious, while Rubens and Van Dyck, sojourning in Genoa, left in the city distinguished testimonies of their art. At the end of the seventeenth century G. B. Gaulli, called il Baciccia (v.), and Domenico Piola, an exuberant and facile executor of frescoes, brought new glory to Genoese painting; while the latter's disciple, Gregorio De Ferrari, not sufficiently known, opens the way to eighteenth-century painting with his frescoes full of light, of a surprising freedom of invention and of a taste that seems to prelude the "French" one. But the greatest Genoese artist of the eighteenth century is without doubt "the expressionist" Alessandro Magnasco, creator of "tocco" painting, and as such, a forerunner of Guardi. Of the nineteenth century, Niccolò Barabino, a native of Sampierdarena, must be remembered.

In L. there also flourished, in different epochs, interesting and original artistic industries. As early as the sixteenth century the art of inlay flourished, and Anselmo de Fornari of Castelnuovo Scrivia in 1504 received the commission to decorate with inlay the choir stalls of the cathedral of Genoa. In the region of Chiavari, since the Middle Ages, the art of weaving velvets and damasks was practiced with great success. The bobbin laces made by Ligurian women during the Baroque age also enjoyed great fame, while as early as the fifteenth century the glass industry flourished at Altare and the ceramics industry at Albissola and Savona. - See plates LXXXVII-LXXXIX.

Piero Zampetti