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Famous
as the "town of witches", Triora is a mediaeval centre on the
crest of Monte Trono (776 m.) and the most important town in the upper
Argentina valley. The little streets, the slate portals and the
architectural mixture of periods and styles add to the charm of the old
town centre, where you can visit the ruins of the Peirana town gate, as
well as the Sottana gate and fountain, the ruins of a castle and Piazza
della Collegiata dell'Assunta. Built on the site of an earlier pagan
temple, the church preserves paintings by Luca Cambiaso and the Siennese
artist Taddeo di Bartolo. In the nearby oratory of San Giovanni Battista
(1694) you can admire a statue by Maragliano.
Outside the town, you can see the mediaeval church of the Madonna delle
Grazie and the nineteenth-century church of Buon Viaggio on the road to
the sanctuary of San Giovanni dei Prati. Only a few ruins remain of a
fortress called the Forte della Colombara e della Sella, of the Romanesque
church of Santa Caterina on Poggio delle Pie and of the small
twelfth-century Genoese fortress. The countryside church of San Bernardino
(fifteenth century) has a fine triple-arched portico and preserves a cycle
of Biblical frescoes which may be the work of Canavesio.
In the ethnographic museum of rural culture, you can see the moulds of
prehistoric exhibits found in Tana della Volpe and Buco del Diavolo and,
most importantly, the acts of the proceedings against the witches in 1588,
which resulted in thirteen people being tortured and burnt at the stake in
a location called Cabotina (or the witches' grotto). There is also a small
botanical garden containing the local floral species, which is protected
by the "Ligurian Alps Natural Park". This falls inside the
municipal territory of Triora and was created with the objective of
safeguarding the varied natural environment and its rare animal species,
which include the royal eagle and the ermine.
The bungee jumping facilities in Triora are famous throughout Europe. And
between a jump into the void and a visit to the woods and grottoes you can
indulge in more peaceful gastronomic pleasures: try the local dish called
"suggeli" with "bruzzo", a type of pasta dumpling
served with ricotta cheese, or the green pie cooked over a tripod fire.
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