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Among
the main cities in Liguria, the town once known as Clavarium ("key to
the valleys") is situated at the centre of the Golfo del Tigullio on
the alluvial plain formed by the River Entella and is in a favourable
position for communication with the Po valley area.
The remains of a burial ground dating back to the eighth and seventh
century BC found close to the mouth of the Rupinaro show that this area
was inhabited by the Ligurian Tigulli tribe in pre-Roman times. The
objects found are exhibited in the Archaeology Museum housed in Palazzo
Costaguta Rocca.
The fortified town of Chiavari was founded in 1178, when the Genoese
adopted a policy of expansion towards the East in order to contain the
power of the Fieschis. You can still see the ruins of the castle built
that was in 1147. On the site of the ancient citadel, a fifteenth-century
Genoese structure whose crinellated tower still survives, there now stands
the Palazzo di Giustizia (1886).
Next to the historic municipal building and the bishop's place, the seat
of the Diocesan Museum, stands the sanctuary of Nostra Signora dell'Orto,
a seventeenth-century cathedral: its interior holds many
eighteenth-century works of art from the monasteries that were suppressed
following the French Revolution.
The parish church of San Giovanni Battista, founded in 1182, was rebuilt
in 1624 and preserves some important works such as paintings by Piola,
Carlone, Fiasella and De Ferrari, the frescoes in the presbytery, the
wooden choir (1631) and a crucifix by Maragliano.
The former thirteenth-century church of San Francesco was restructured in
1630 at the behest of the Costaguta family after a plan by Bartolomeo
Bianco and is now used for cultural events. The church of San Giacomo di
Rupinaro dates from the seventeenth century.
Important local buildings include the thirteenth-century Palazzo dei
Portici Neri and fourteenth-century Palazzo Maschio Torriglia, which has a
gallery of Italian paintings from the sixteenth and seventeenth century:
among these is the "Sacrifice of Moses" by Grechetto and some
works from the Genoese school.
In the heart of the old town, porticoed Via Martiri della Liberazione has
retained its vocation for commerce: this is the ancient "straight
alley" which became the most representative street of the bourgeoisie
in the mid-fourteenth century. Some very old handicraft activities still
survive in Chiavari - the production of "campanino" chairs and
macramé lace-making, which can be admired in the little market that is
open every month in the old town streets.
Via Raveschieri was already a residential street in mediaeval times. This
is where the Economic Society was founded in 1791: it has a large library
(55,000 volumes), a history museum and an art gallery.
The leisure port can berth about 450 boats.
If you go up to the fifteenth-century sanctuary of the Madonna delle
Grazie at Bacezza you will be able to enjoy a panoramic view that goes
from Portofino to Sestri Levante. Inside the church you can admire a fine
cycle of frescoes by Teramo Piaggio and Luca Cambiaso and also a Flemish
statue of the Madonna dell Grazie.
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