Roccaforte Ligure: sights, history and trails

The municipal territory is located on the watershed between Val Sisola (tributaria della val Borbera) and the Spinti valley. Culmina with Mount Osesa 906 m s.l.m., located just north-west of the capital.^[4]

Territory of the abbey of Vendersi in the Middle Ages, was subject to the temporal power of the Bishops of Tortona and then to that of Malaspina. Cited as Rocca di Pié, it passed to the lords of Montalto, and then under the direct dominion of the municipality of Tortona from 1295.

At the beginning of the 15th century it became a fief of the powerful Genoese family of the Spinola. In 1644 the lordship was elevated to Marquisate with Rocchetta, Vigo and Centrassi, associating it with the county of Ronco and the consignories of Busalla, Montessoro and Borgo de' Fornari.

Having increased revenue as a result of the imperial concession to set up tolls on passing goods along the Way of the Sale or Via dei Feudi imperial (starting from Genoa, Passo d'Orero, Casella, Croce, Val Vobbia, Mongiardino) that from the port of Genoa climbs up to Lombardy, Napoleon erects the new commercial center of Borgonuovo della Rocchetta on the opposite bank of the Sisola which flows into Borbera, equipping it with osteries, granaries, a slaughterhouse, a weighing for cattle and goods, stables, fountains and waterways, covered washbasins, mills, a duster, various houses to accommodate the mulattoeri pass, a daily market, a print shop (1673, where the Order of Malta Statutes are published), a new feudal palace (1666-1678), a preemptive palace seat of the excretors of the goods and to accommodate important characters of passage (such as the imperial ministerplenipotentiary arrived in 1722 to process the people in competition in desertion of some soldiers from the imperial army) and finally a tick (1669-1721). The brother of the Marquis, religious, erects the great church of Sant’ Antonio Abate. Stefano III (1633-1687), Carlo Napoleone (1671-1736) erecting a modern hospital in Borgo de’ Fornari, Giovan Battista (1707-1772).

With Charles Napoleon II (1741-1805) the fief quickly decayed due to poor administration, causing financial dissect until the Marquis was interrupted by the imperial government for insolvency in 1784. Without heirs, in 1784 he left the administration of his property to his cousins Giovan Antonio (1760-55) and Giacomo Filippo Raggi (1777-54) and the marquisate that administer until 1797. For some quotas also the Doria and from 1714 the Gentile are comproprietari of Busalla, Montessoro and Borgo dei Fornari. Abolites the Imperial Feudi in 1797, it was the subject of devastation by the Napoleonic army, such as the fire of the trade mark archive, intended to eliminate documents attesting to the ancient property. Embedded in the division of Genoa and in Province of Novi in Liguria, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, was with the reform Rattazzi, united to province of Alessandria in 1859. In 1863 the town of Roccaforte assumed the new name "Roccaforte Ligure".^[5] In 1968 he ceded the villages of Cà di Lemmi and Lemmi to the municipality of Lemmi Grondona.

In 1822 in the hamlet of Chiappella, a cluster was found containing the inscription Corn - Ciribius - Niposusin; on one side is carved a plate and on the other an amphora. According to an interpretation, which earned him the name of Matron Ara, would celebrate the dissolution of a vow made by Gaius Tiberius to the Matrons. The ancient hamlet of Avi, founded as a feudal seat dependent on the great monastic court of Casasco, can only be reached via rather impervious paths, is completely uninhabited and features the ruins of ancient peasant houses.

• The parish church dates back to the 16th century. The side aisles house six altars adorned with fine stucco. Noteworthy are a canvas depicting the Virgin of the Rosary with St. Dominic and Saint Catherine from Siena, the work of Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari, the choir in carved walnut wood, located in the apse, and the 600-pipe organ in worked wood.

• Castle Malaspina

Below is a table relating to the administrations that have succeeded one another in this municipality.