Pieve di Teco

The well-preserved historic centre of Pieve di Teco, in the Arroscia valley just beyond the halfway point. In the Middle Ages, Pieve had been a stronghold of the feudal organisation of the valley, a point of convergence between "marenche", i.e. from the sea, where the dominant Clavesana family had built their own castle of which little remains on a spur on the ridge.

At its centre is Corso Mario Ponzoni, a street that has been porticoed since the 16th century, with two small squares at its ends. Overlooking one of them is the imposing 18th-century collegiate church of St. John the Baptist: it was built on the site of an older Gothic church, of which a beautiful 15th century baptismal font remains inside.

Alongside the historical centre, towards the course of the Arroscia river, remains the former 14th-century parish church, the Madonna della Ripa, now an Art Museum, of great interest to those who appreciate the local sacred art production between the 17th and 18th centuries. On the opposite side, on the widening of Piazza Borelli, the former Augustinian convent houses the small Ubaga Mask Museum, where even leading contemporary artists have reinterpreted in mask form the ancient Ligurian concept of "ubagu": the impervious, inhospitable locations on the border between the sunny and dark worlds.