This is an agricultural centre in the upper Arroscia Valley. The main municipal district, Borghetto, is surrounded by six municipal districts lying on either side of the valley: Gavenola, Leverone, Gazzo, Montecalvo, Ubaga and Ubaghetta. This territory has always been strategic because of the connections between the plain of Albenga and the Impero and Tanaro Valleys, and it formed part of the Arduino borderlands.
After 1094, it became part of the feudal estate of Bonifacio del Vasto until 1151, when it passed into the hands of the Clavesana family, who controlled the entire Arroscia Valley. In 1204, Genoa came onto the scene and the town's inhabitants swore allegiance to the Republic in 1290 during the war against Pisa. In the fifteenth century, a part of the territory, including Gavenola, fell under the dominion of the Del Carretto family of Zuccarello, only to return to the Genoese in the following century.
The Borghetto bridge over the River Arroscia is very characteristic: it has a single arch without protection on the sides. The Baroque parish church of San Marco Evangelista preserves a poliptych dated 1544 that is attributed to Giorgio Guido Da Ranzo. The ruins of a tower can be seen at Ubaga. Gavenola grew up along the ancient road to Ormea through the Caprauna pass, which is an alternative route to the Nava road.
The parish church of San Colombo, which replaced the old sixteenth-century parish church in 1796, is rather a large building for a town of such a size. It preserves a seventeenth-century wood group from the Maragliano school showing Christ's flagellation, as well as many other works from the Genoese school. The parish church also preserves the 24 "garments of the heavenly host". These were donated by a benefactor, Francesco Vannenes, who provided most of the funds for construction of the church. The garments are worn every five years by the children who escort the processional box representing Christ's deposition during the Good Friday procession.
