Loano is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 60 km southwest of Genoa and about 30 km southwest of Savona. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 11,375 and an area of 13.5 km².
The municipality of Loano contains the frazione (subdivision) Verzi.
Loano borders the following municipalities: Bardineto, Boissano, Borghetto Santo Spirito, and Pietra Ligure.
Sourced with thanks from En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loano
Loano is an ancient town from the Roman era, it was set on the Via Julia Augusta, two of whose bridges are still standing, including the “Pontetto” now covered by the Aurelia. In the ninth-tenth century it was abandoned, along with the whole of the coastal region, and its inhabitants sought refuge from the Saracen raids in the mountains and valleys of the hinterland. In 1263 it became a fief of Oberto Doria and it is to the credit of his son Raffo, who granted them many tax concessions, that in 1309 much of its population came back to live by the sea. The Doria ruled Loano almost uninterruptedly until 1735, when it was occupied by the Savoy.
The family has left its mark on the town with the many religious and civil monuments that it constructed, especially Palazzo Doria, now the town hall, which is considered one of the most representative examples of Renaissance civil architecture in Liguria. It has a sixteenth-century portal in black stone and a loggia with paintings on the left side, while a large mosaic floor from the age of Imperial Rome (third century AD) has been installed in the central hall on the second floor. The same room now houses an ornithological museum. A gallery links the palace to the pentagonal defensive tower, erected in 1602 and used to house the town garrison.
Its middle floor is now used as a conference hall. The Doria also built the seventeenth-century parish church of San Giovanni Battista, with a ten-sided plan and a dome, which houses an important collection of paintings (works by Borgione, de Ferrari, Ansaldo, Coppellino and Badaracco), and the church of Sant'Agostino (with attached monastery and cloister), which has a nave and two aisles separated by columns of pink Finale stone.
The nave has a vault with ample lunettes that let in the light.
It houses large statues by M. Sparzo (late sixteenth to early seventeenth century) and numerous paintings (Paggi, Semino, Brandimarte). The religious devotion of the Doria family is symbolized by the complex of Monte Carmelo, a group of buildings constructed between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the form of a Latin cross with an octagonal dome, as well as by a monastery later converted into the family residence and a four-story-high tower on a square base that dominates the whole town. Today Loano is a renowned seaside resort with a capacious tourist harbor protected by a wharf that extends for 500 meters or 1640 feet and which has berths for 600 boats.
Sourced with thanks from Www.world66.com
Graphic sourced with thanks from www.agenziarosso.it/
Visit Loano2Village in LoanoREAD MORE