Taggia

It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").

• Name — Taggia • Official Name — Comune di Taggia • Region — Liguria • Province — Imperia (IM) • Frazioni — Arma di Taggia, Borghi, Levà • Mayor — Mario Conio • Area Total Km2 — 30.87 • Population Total — 14040 • Population As Of — 28 February 2017 • Population Demonym — Taggiaschi or Tabiesi • Elevation M — 39 • Saint — Madonna of the Miracles and St. Benedict Revelli • Day — Second Saturday in February • Postal Code — 18018 • Area Code — 0184

The town is divided into three parts: Taggia proper, located in the Valle Argentina in the immediate outback, it can be considered the proper centre of the city; Arma, a sea resort; and Levà, including the industrial area, placed between the other centres. The town can be found at approximately 10 miles from the city of Imperia.

Tombs dating from the 10th-7th centuries BC have been found in the area of Taggia. During the Roman domination it was an important commercial port, known as Costa Balenae. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the old centre was damaged by the invasion of Rotharis's Lombards and then by a landslide in 690. The inhabitants moved to a new walled settlement, called Tabia. Despite its defences, in 889 it was sacked and razed to the ground by the Saracens. The rebuilt burgh became in 1153 a fief of the Clavesana family, but soon later it was acquired by the Republic of Genoa. In 1273 it became an autonomous commune, later receiving a podestà named in Genoa, under which it remained until its disappearing in the Napoleonic Wars. Later it was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1815) and of the Kingdom of Italy (1861).

• Basilica of San Giacomo and San Filippo (1675–1681), built on an 11th-century Romanesque church. • Church of Santa Maria del Canneto (10th or 14th century). • Church of San Martino di Tours, housing 15th-century frescoes. • Convent of San Domenico (160–1490). It has some pictures painted by Ludovico Brea. • Palazzo Asdente (1473). • Palazzo Curlo (1448). • Palazzo Vivaldi (1458).

Taggia is situated on the Strada statale 1 Via Aurelia (now a provincial road). It has also a gate on the A10 Highway. Taggia has a railway station on the Genoa–Ventimiglia line. Riviera di Trasporti SpA provides public transport service. Taggia was served by trolleybuses of the Sanremo trolleybus system from 1948 to 2002 and before 1948 by an interurban tramway from Sanremo.