The abbey complexes in the municipality of Cairo Montenotte

The ancient abbey complex of Saints Peter and Paul is a place of worship located in thehamlet of Ferrania, in Borgo San Pietro, in themunicipality of Cairo Montenotte. The Abbey was founded around the end of the 11th century and was the location of the regular Augustinian canons. The first mention of the existence of the Ferrania Abbey dates back to the 1090 concession by which Marquis Bonifacio del Vasto, head of the del Carretto family, granted the church of Ferrania free passage and grazing for all its lands.

In 1345, the Marquises of Carretto came into conflict with the Scarampi family over jurisdiction over Ferrania. The dispute was settled in favour of the Scarampi, by order of the archbishop of Genoa. In 1747, with the dying out of the Scarampi family, ownership of the structure, which in the meantime had fallen to a simple commendation, was only recognised in Napoleonic times, after a long dispute, to the Marquis Seyssell d'Aix. The property was then purchased in 1818 by the Marquis Marcello Luigi Maria Durazzo and in 1848 it passed to his daughter Nicoletta, and then to her son, Marcello De Mari, who gave great impetus to the agricultural-forestry activity of the place, transforming the complex into an agricultural estate. After his death in 1913, the S.I.P.E.– Società Italiana Prodotti Explosdenti (Italian Explosive Products Company) – established an industry for the production of explosives.