Bergeggi Island
The coastal stretch between Bergeggi and Spotorno has a varied
morphology alternating small beaches and short promontories to
overhanging cliffs, in which the sea dug some small caves.
In front
of it, not too far from the mainland, there is the small Island of
Bergeggi, a suggestive cone of calcareous rock reaching 53 meters of
height. The island and the rocky coast facing it are part of Bergeggi Regional Nature Reserve since 1985.
It seems that in ancient times the island was linked to the coast by a
narrow rocky tongue, which was afterwards destroyed by the wave motion.
Nowadays it is rocky and overhanging, only partly covered by
Mediterranean vegetation. Among the most interesting vegetal species
there are the Campanula sabatia, exclusive of western Liguria and the spurge (Euphorbia dendroides), a shrub which loses its leaves at the beginning of summer and recovers them in autumn.
The island of Bergeggi preserves considerable historical and
archaeological evidences. On the top of it there are the ruins of
military and religious buildings dating back to different epochs. The
most ancient buildings were probably built during the late Roman
period. In the highest point of the island the basis of a massif
cylindrical building are preserved: it probably was a watchtower or a
lighthouse built for the nearby port of Vada Sabatia (the current Vado
Ligure).
In the Middle Ages, the island of Bergeggi, like the other small
Ligurian islands, was for a long time the seat of monastic communities.
The ruins of a small early Christian church dating back to the 5th-6th
century and the larger ones of a two-aisle Roman building dating back
to the 11th century are an evidence. The remains of a square-based
tower also date back to the Middle Ages, while the circular building
nearby is likely to be Roman.
In front of the tower, on the mainland, there is a similar tower, the
tower of Ere, which was part of the same defensive system.
