Gavi: sights, history and trails

The coat of arms of the municipality of Gavi was recognized by decree of the head of the government of 7 April 1933.^[12]

The gonfalone is a white drape.

Historical defensive fortress built by the Genoese on a pre-existing medieval castle. It is a state property and is used as a museum structure.

On the left of the Church stands the municipal palace, in which they resided ab antiquity the Consuls and the Podestà, who administered the thing of the Municipality. Nothing is known about its date of manufacture, and certainly through the centuries it underwent numerous changes. There is still the communal coat of arms (three-band shield) in the portico, which was also engraved on the three doors of the village: Pedaggio, Borgonuovo and Chiappa. In the year 1589, the Consular Room was remade, reduced and restored. In fact, in 1853 while practicing a niche to place you the bust of the worthy citizen envelope. Gaetano Romano (founder of the free school to which he devoted his entire heritage of 50 000 lire, still existing school where the Elementaries are located); a stone of quarry of the country that mentioned the works of 1589.

Gavi was once completely surrounded by walls, today dismantled except for some still visible sections that descend from the Fort and that from the chapel of Madonna della Guardia in Borgonuovo line the city towards the west. The old defensive system remains today that the Portino, the only surviving port of those that allowed entry into the city. The age of edification is uncertain, but still frameable around the 13th century. The material with which it is built is limestone, unlike the most widespread sandstone in Gavi buildings.

Outside the old town, on the road that leads to Carrosio The house of the composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino stands out for its presence on the façade of medieval coats of arms and bas-reliefs.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Guard, on a Greek cross, was built by the local population in 1861, on a hill overlooking the area. It preserves inside the beautiful wooden statue of Our Lady of the Guard, built in 1746, a former vote of a Gaviese, Giacomo Bertelli, who had miraculously saved his house from bombing during the Austro-Piedmont siege.^[13]

Parish church, belonging to the Archdiocese of Genoa, built in Romanesque style with sandstones taken from a quarry near the fort. It is first mentioned in the chronicles on August 15, 1172, when the consuls of Alessandria They swore you loyalty to the Marquis of Gavi.^[7] It has been restored in the '600 and in700; further restorations were carried out in the 20th century^[14]. The church is dominated by a lantern which acts as a bell tower. The layout is of the basilica type with three naves, with the central one elevated above the others, divided internally by columns. The façade is adorned with a series of small blind arches, and is enlivened in the center by an imposing splayed portal, surmounted by a rose window and a mullioned window. The Last Supper is represented in the lunette of the architrave.

The Franciscan convent of Valle, located outside the gate, built in the 18th century^[13] on a pre-existing hospice for pilgrims dedicated to St. Bernardino, preserves the statue of the saint and a painting of the Virgin dating back to the 15th century,^[13] a wooden group representative The ecstasy of Saint Francis and a marble statue of San Bovo 1702. Inside are the sacristy with 18th century furniture and the cloister with lodges on the first floor.^[13]

It is the oldest of the speakers. The chapters of his brotherhood, composed in 1723 and approved in 1736, claim to be the ancient brotherhood by tradition. Established about 400 years before the chapters, it dates back to 1200, at the time in which the processions of Flagellanti and Disciplinati were active throughout Italy. Of these one passed in that year to Gavi through Voltaggio and Genoa. The Oratory church has a single and wide nave. In 1595 the famous painter G. Augustine Ridolfi, as it still attested an inscription at the bottom of the church, frescoed you all around Passion of Jesus Christ. In 1825 the Confraternity was aggregated to the Archconfraternity of Death and Prayer of Rome with the task of burying the poor dead for free, wearing the black cloak; maintaining the use of the white hood for ordinary functions. This Confraternity also had in common with the Confraternity of the Reds, which arose later, the Monte del grano to advance the seed to the farmers. It also had a hospital next to it, "not rich but sufficient for the poor of the municipality".^[5]

Church with a single nave dating back to 1575 whose walls and vaults bring frescoes in good style. The oratory is rich in tapestries and precious vestments: it also has some tabarini for very valuable goats. In addition, in the church there is a wooden statue of the Assumption, by Gaviese Bartolomeo Carrega, disciple of Montecucco. The Brotherhood had as the Institute of Charity the Monte di Pietà for the loan without interest on simple pledge, which dates back to ancient times. The coats used for ordinary functions are of turquoise colour.^[9]

The first news on this Brotherhood was 1601: in that year fourteen tertiary members of the Order of the Minimists of St. Francis from Paola asked the Archbishop of Genoa to be able to establish a brotherhood dedicated to the Trinity.^[15] In 1609 he was joined to the Archconfraternity of Rome, although he did not enjoy the benefits between 1691 and 1723. Towards 1600 Marco Elia Fossati founded the Chapel and the current church was built to replace that one. In the church of the Reds there is a beautiful canvas of St. Augustine and a wooden statue representing the Holy Trinity, work of Gaviese sculptor Norberto Montecucco. The Brotherhood took care of the Mount of wheat, which had to anticipate semente to the peasants, in common with the Brotherhood of the Whites: moreover, it hosted the statue of Our Lady of the Guard during the construction of the Sanctuary.^[9]

Located on the road to San Cristoforo, it was the ancient main church, built before 1000 perhaps on the remains of a pre-existing Lombard-Byzantine temple, on a rock overlooking the Lemme, overlooking the wide bend created by the river. For a long time, the remains of the facade and the central bell with the apse remain on the site (originally it was three aisles). Substituted later by the parish of San Giacomo.

There are traces of frescoes with a lacunosa Madonna with Child and a Saint Peter, presumably dating back to the 12th-13th century.^[16]

Inhabitants registered^[17]

Note: Data include the fraction of Sottovalle that since 2007 belongs to the municipality of Sottovalle Arquata Scrivia.

• The importance of Gavi in the Middle Ages is underlined in the book Baudolino di Umberto Eco, where the city is mentioned both for its border position with Liguria and for its wine.