Gavi, Piedmont

Gavi is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 100 km southeast of Turin and about 30 km southeast of Alessandria.

Gavi borders the following municipalities: Arquata Scrivia, Bosio, Carrosio, Francavilla Bisio, Isola del Cantone, Novi Ligure, Parodi Ligure, San Cristoforo, Serravalle Scrivia, Tassarolo, and Voltaggio.

History

The area of Gavi was already settled in Neolithic times; later it perhaps housed a Roman military outpost defending the Via Postumia. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire it was captured by the Magyars and later by the Saracens. According to the legend, the current name would derive from that of a princess of the latter, Gavia or Gavina, who had established herself in a castle here.

Later in the Middle Ages the town was under the Marquisses of Gavi, allied with Frederick Barbarossa, who took refuge here after the Battle of Legnano. In 1202 Gavi was sold to the Republic of Genoa. After a parenthesis under the Visconti and France, it returned to Genoa in 1528.

In 1625 , during the First Genoese-Savoyard War, it was attacked and stormed by French-Savoy troops, but the Genoese...
Read More