Balestrino

Balestrino the magic of the ghost town in Liguria. the silence is so redundant that it enters your head: everything is still even the clock of the church. the old village is no longer there, or rather, it has been abandoned, so much so that it has become invisible. nature has now taken over the buildings, so Balestrino becomes even more ghost, among its narrow alleys, unpaved roads and numerous wooden doors, with a little imagination, you can imagine the old life of a typical town of the Ligurian interior. impossible not to raise your head and admire the castle of the del Carretto, still dominating the whole village. However, certain rumors say that Balestrino is undergoing renovation and that it will soon return to be inhabited and to shine in the beautiful Ligurian setting.

The ancient village developed in concentric circles at the foot of the Castle and was abandoned following landslides. narrow streets, gravelly corridors meander forming a network at the center of which Balestrino stands as the absolute denominator of a magnificent context permeated by beauty, history and architecture. inhabited in an area considered less risky, the change had an epoch-making and no one forgets that year, "1953".

It is said that inside the Castle lives the spirit of an inhabitant of the BORGO FANTASMA DI BALESTRINO, certain Giuseppe Coscie, known as "il cavigliotto", builder of Caviggie (agricultural fixing tool for pack animals). it seems that this man lived inside the Castle and suffered a traumatic death. his ghost still wanders among the ruins of the abandoned village causing confusion among the visitors and the inhabitants of the town .. annecdotes that follow one another, handed down from the elderly to the children.

Balestrino is a hilly village. Still today you can admire the Del Carretto Castle. Perched in a dominant position over the Rio Ponte valley., It represents a beautiful example of medieval fortress. To visit the ancient parish of Sant'Andrea in modern style, which preserves inside two ancient altars in polychrome marble and a pulpit with marble coats of arms of the Del Carretto di Balestrino family. Near the cemetery, there is the Church of San Giorgio with a medieval structure and frescoes from the 1400s.