What is Zuccarello known for?

Born here 1379, married into Lucca, died at 26 in childbirth, sleeping marble figure carved by Jacopo della Quercia is in the cathedral of San Martino. Single-arched stone humpback bridge over the Neva at the southern gate of the borgo, one of the most photographed in western Liguria. Founding plan of 1248 still legible in the long porticoed main street, continuous arcades on both sides through the whole borgo.

When is the best time to visit Zuccarello?

Apr–Oct. April through June and September to October are the windows when the Neva valley walks open and the borgo's porticoes hold their shade. The Festa Medievale in the second half of July fills the main street with costumed crafts and music for two weekends. July and August can hit 30 degrees on the valley floor, though the porticoes and the river keep the borgo cooler than the coast. November through March is quiet. A few restaurants stay open through the cold months. The medieval bridge in winter mist, single arch reflected in the Neva below, is the photograph that turns up on most Borghi più belli covers of Zuccarello.

Zuccarello is a comune in the province of Savona, Liguria region of Italy, about 96 kilometers from Genova.

How do I get to Zuccarello?

From Genova, Zuccarello is roughly 96 km by road.

Liguria · Savona

Zuccarello

A 280-person medieval borgo in the Neva valley above Albenga, founded by the Marquises of Clavesana in 1248, birthplace of Ilaria del Carretto.

Known for

ILARIA DEL CARRETTO
Born here 1379, married into Lucca, died at 26 in childbirth, sleeping marble figure carved by Jacopo della Quercia is in the cathedral of San Martino.
PONTE MEDIEVALE
Single-arched stone humpback bridge over the Neva at the southern gate of the borgo, one of the most photographed in western Liguria.
1248 PORTICOES
Founding plan of 1248 still legible in the long porticoed main street, continuous arcades on both sides through the whole borgo.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Bartolomeo, 24 August

Why come

Zuccarello sits in the lower Neva valley, seven kilometers north of Albenga and the coast. The borgo was founded in 1248 by the inhabitants of the surrounding valley together with the Marquises of Clavesana, laid out as a single porticoed street that still runs the length of the town, with the bridge closing it off to the south and the church marking its far end to the north. The castle stands above both, on the hill, the seat from which the marquises held the place.

The Marquisate of Zuccarello passed to the Del Carretto branch and ruled the upper valley as an independent fief until the seventeenth century. It was into this family that the woman born in the town in 1379 belonged, and it was this family's alliance with Lucca that took her away from it: she married to seal the connection between the two houses and died at twenty-six giving birth to her second daughter. The valley that produced her is a minor tributary above a coastal town, and the marble sarcophagus that made her name lasting was carved and placed far from here. What remains in Zuccarello is the setting rather than the monument: the street, the bridge, the ruined seat of the family, and a house pointed to as the one where she was born.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Zuccarello’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

What to see

Ponte Medievale sul Neva
Late medieval, restored in the nineteenth century. The single arch clears the riverbed in one span, and the hump in the deck is steep enough to hide the far bank until the crown of the arch.
Via Centrale
The length of it reads as one built gesture rather than a row of separate houses: the arcades never break stride from one end of the borgo to the other.
Castello dei Del Carretto
Ruined fortress on the hill above the village, residence of the Del Carretto marquises, four cylindrical towers and a central keep.
Chiesa di San Bartolomeo
Sixteenth-century parish church at the northern end of the borgo, single nave, Baroque altar from the eighteenth century.
Casa natale di Ilaria del Carretto
House identified by tradition as the birthplace of Ilaria, standing ordinary among its neighbors on the street, with nothing to mark it out except the identification itself, the marble likeness Jacopo della Quercia carved of her lies elsewhere, in Lucca.

The slow-trip planner

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Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Fiera Della Zuccamarket
usually held in October. Eventi Autentici Liguri (UNPLI Liguria calendar)

Living here

Population 280
Commuter belti
Pharmacy: none mapped
High school within a 30-minute drive
Nearest airport Genoa, 1 h 17 min drive
Regional capital Genova, 1 h 22 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

The numbers

Elevation: 130 m
Population: 280
Surface area: 10.81 km²

On the map

Google Maps Apple Maps Directions from Genova

These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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