Bussana Vecchia

Bussana Vecchia (Bussann-a Vegia in Ligurian) is a hill hamlet of the comune of Sanremo. The violent earthquake of 23 February 1887 half destroyed the village, until then simply called "Bussana", and it was completely evacuated (on the orders of the military authorities) by its inhabitants, who moved about three kilometres downhill and founded Bussana Nuova. Totally abandoned for decades, it began to be lived in again from the late 1950s by Italian and foreign artists, drawn by the unusual place, who restored the least damaged buildings and made them habitable. It hosts an international artists' community, with craft workshops and a few places to eat, and over the years has become a distinctive "artists' village" in a medieval setting.

The village seems to have been founded in Roman times, originally named Armedina or Armedana; however, the first evidence of a permanent settlement only dates to the 7th century. After the Lombard invasions the population moved down to the Armea valley below, where they stayed until the 10th century, when frequent Saracen raids pushed them back to higher, more defensible ground. The first defensive structures then began to rise on the hill above.

From at least the early 11th century Bussana Vecchia was under the control of the Counts of Ventimiglia, who built a first castle for defence.

In the 13th century the village was bought by the Republic of Genoa, which still left the roughly 250 inhabitants of Bussana Vecchia relatively independent.

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · translated from Italian