Finalborgo

Air of Marquises

The Name

The place name derives from Burgum Finarii, a border town (ad fines, at the border) at the time of the Romans and administrative centre of the marquisate of the Del Carretto family between the 14th and 16th centuries.

History

• 113 BC: the Julia Augusta road is built, entering the Finalborgo area from the Valle di Ponci, where five Roman bridges can still be seen.
• 12th century: the origin of the village is generally thought to date back to the period of the marquis Enrico I Del Carretto called il Guercio (who died in 1185), but recent archaeological findings antedate its founding by a few centuries.
• ca 1300-1598: Finalborgo is governed by the Del Carretto family from the height of Castel Gavone, part of the medieval march of the Aleramici. This family leaves churches, palaces and fortifications in the capital as well as a convent with splendid cloisters and sumptuous halls. The city walls are destroyed in 1449 by the Genoese and rebuilt in 1452. The Del Carretto marquises seek to free themselves from the sphere of influence of Genoa, which continues to be the great enemy.
• 1598-1713: this is the period of the Spanish domination. The marquisate, sold to Spain, becomes a strategic territory for the entire 17th century, allowing for control of northern Europe through the State of Milan. The Spanish exploit the important landing place at the Marina, complete new communication roads like Strada Beretta (1666), and carry out general restructuring of the village's defensive works, thanks to Forte San Giovanni (1640-44) and the reinforcement of Castel Govone.
• 1713: with the crisis of succession to the Spanish throne upon the death of Charles II, the period of Spanish domination comes to an end. The marquisate is ceded to Genoa, and the village's passage to its ancient enemy marks the close of the prosperous phase it had experienced under Spain. The destruction of Castel Govone by the Genoese in 1715 symbolises the end of an era.
• 1740: upon the death of Emperor Charles VI, Finale is involved in the wars for Austrian succession which see the Austrians, Piedmontese and English in the field against the Bourbons, French and Spanish.
• 1748: the peace of Aachen definitively places Finale under Genoa, where it remains until 1795 when, with the arrival of the French, the marquisate is suppressed and Finale shares first the lot of the Ligurian Republic, and then that of the Savoys and the Kingdom of Italy.

A concentrate of Liguria with the gates edged in slate

Closed in between medieval walls and still well preserved, interspersed with semicircular towers and interrupted only by the gates, Borgo di Finale (so called to differentiate it from the Marina) immediately offers the visitor a feeling of protection and welcome.

The ancient conception of defense and community survives in the criss-crossing of the roads, placed perpendicularly to each other to form fascinating views inside limited spaces.

Traversed by narrow alleyways, every piazza is a conquest and a surprise, presenting marvels fashioned with the "stone of Finale": slate, which embellishes the town gates, is shaped into columns, diamonds, ornaments.

If the great monuments (the Renaissance and Baroque palaces, the Basilica of San Biagio, the complex of Santa Caterina and - outside the walls - Forte San Giovanni and Castel Gavone) express, so to speak, the strength and vanity of the village, the shops and handicraft workshops represent its vivacity. The place is, in fact, alive, inhabited, where the piazzas multiply possible meeting places and where commercial activity (an inheritance of creativity worked in the stone of Finale, in ceramic, in glass and in iron) harmoniously combines with the urban fabric.

The village is enhanced by the 15th-century and Renaissance palaces, altered during the period of the Spanish domination.

The Palazzo del Municipio (Town Hall), originally belonging to the Ricci family, is one of the best examples of early-Renaissance architecture in Liguria, as its splendid portal proclaims; Palazzo Cavassola (which hosted Pope Pius VII) and Palazzo Gallesio illustrate to perfection the decorative concepts of 17th-century Finale; Palazzo Brunengo in Piazza Aycardi is remarkable for its lovely double-arched loggia (Loggia di Raimondo) and large family coat-of-arms, now barely visible; in the piazza of the same name, the Palazzo del Tribunale exhibits in its façade the complex transformations experienced over the epochs. The Del Carretto family resided here, followed by the Spanish and Genoese governors, after which the palace became seat of the district tribunal and finally of the magistrate's court. Palazzo Aycardi has a front with ornamental motifs in 18th-century taste, while Palazzo Arnaldi boasts an extraordinary façade in rococo style, animated by stucco-work. The same piazza is overlooked by Palazzo Messea, while Palazzo Chiazzara is found in Piazzetta Doria.

The village's most important monument is the Basilica of San Biagio, a lavish example of Baroque architecture built in the 17th century over the earlier medieval church (1372), of which it preserves the apse and the daring octagon-shaped bell-tower (1463) in late-Gothic style, slightly leaning, with numerous slender double lancet windows on each side. The façade has remained unfinished in rough stone, while the interior with a nave and two aisles is striking in the grandeur and richness of its decorations.

Originally in the church of Santa Caterina, like other works and altar-pieces, the mausoleum of Giovanni Andrea Sforza Del Carretto, the last of the marquises who died in 1604, is situated in the nave. The sculptures attributed to Schiaffino are exceptional: the balustrade in Carrara marble and the pulpit representing the vision of Ezekiel.

The church of Santa Caterina and the Dominican complex of Finalborgo date back to about 1360, after the death of the marquis Giorgio I Del Carretto, when his widow felt the need to erect a noble church to house the mortal remains of the marquis's family. The convent has undergone substantial alterations over the years: it was transformed into and used as a prison from 1863 to 1964, but its beauty has remained intact, as the two splendid Renaissance cloisters can testify, recently restored, built between the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Teatro Aycardi, inserted by the Italian National Trust Fund in its list of protected Italian monuments, it was the first performance hall constructed in Liguria during the Napoleonic period. In its almost two centuries of existence it has hosted opera, concert and poetry performances, including, in 1845, the work L'empirico e il masnadiero, commissioned by the local Philharmonic Academy, which had its seat here, to Ligurian artists.

Local Products

The testa in cassetta is a pork sausage appreciated by gourmets for its particular taste, hand produced by local butchers.

Local dishes

Borage ravioli are squares of home-made pasta, with a stuffing made with natural Finalborgo herbs.