Driving up through Val Nervia on the SP64 from the coast you’ll pass through the first village Camporosso. The next village – Dolceacqua – is bestowed with an old castle ruin as well as a beautiful roman bridge (Ponte Vecchio) painted by Monet:
Further up the valley you pass by Isolabona – also with a castle ruin of less majestic stature:
Finally at an altitude of 256 meters Pigna is located approximately 17 km from the Italian Riviera in the beautiful hinterland with its gentle mountain sides covered in green and grey foilage. What you don’t see for trees and bushes is the widespread use of terracing the hill sides – an important feature since a 100 years ago large parts of those terraced hills were used for growing wheat (think about the amount of manual labor involved in this!).
The oldest buildings in the city date back to 1200 AD, and in the beginning of the last century its population was around 2000 – now there are about 800 inhabitants in the entire municipality, which includes the last town on the road SP64, namely Buggio.
Comune di Pigna borders with four French municipalities: Breil, Saorge, Fontan and Briga and with six Italian municipalities (comuni): Castelvittorio, Apricale, Rocchetta Nervina, Triora, Molini di Triora and Isolabona.
The village was build almost like a kind of fortress, with an outer surrounding wall, and inside you find a number of smaller squares and houses built along and on top of each other in a fascinating tangle. It’s all connected by covered and mostly small streets called caruggi, which you obviously only can walk through.
In Pigna you have a number of churches with Saint Michael the Archangel being the main church used for regular daily mass. The oldest church is San Tommaso which was build in the 12th century and only part of walls are standing to this day (San Tommaso is located just outside the village).
With its apparent accidental layout the village is a boon for kids to play and for adults to enjoy the serene and quiet atmosphere. Cafes, bars and restaurants are available in Pigna as well as in the other villages scattered down the valley to the coast. Roam the village in this gallery which also has a few shots of neighbouring Castelvittorio:
Walking via Fossarel past the cemetery you arrive at an ancient roman bridge Ponte del Carne. Across from the bridge to the right there is a number of naturally water-carved out bassins where a small stream from the mountains delivers crisp and cold water for a cooling dip during hot summers:
Most web sites covering local stuff are in Italian only, however they are worth a visit with the option of gaining extra insight by using Google Translate. Read more here about Pigna and Val Nervia:
Italian municipalities (comuni) – Pigna Comune home page
Liguria Region – Pigna Comune home page
Pigna Comune (Italian public stats web page)
A thorough historic review of Pigna and surrounding locations
A slightly messy but informative web page on Pigna
Video on Buggio- frazione di Pigna
Video on neighboring village Castelvittorio
The Ligurian Alps National Park