Albenga (; ) is a city and comune situated on the Gulf of Genoa on the Italian Riviera in the Province of Savona in Liguria, northern Italy. Albenga has the nickname of city of a hundred spires. The economy is mostly based on tourism, local commerce and agriculture. Albenga has six hamlets: Lusignano, San Fedele, Campochiesa, Leca, Bastia, Salea.
History
Albenga was founded around the 4th century BC on the slopes of the coastal hill. Albenga used to be the capital of the Ingauni a Ligurian tribe. The Ingauners were sailors traders and they owned a large territory between Finale and Sanremo.
During the Second Punic War the town of Albenga was allied with the Carthaginians, but was defeated by the Romans under proconsul Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus in 181 BC. The following year the Romans and the Ingauni signed a foedus (alliance agreement) which started the total Romanization of the whole region. Put under Latin rights in 89 BC, Albingaunum was granted Roman citizenship in 45 BC under Julius Caesar, starting to enjoy, with the beginning of the Empire, a period of prosperity. A further boost for the city came from the building of the Via Julia Augusta (13 BC), linked with southern France and Spain. In the meantime the intense exploitation of the flat land around the city continued; an inscription records the restoration of the walls, forum, and harbor, by Constantius in A.D. 354.
During the 5th century, the city suffered from raids by the Visigoths, who partly destroyed and looted Albenga. The old Municipium, which now is in disastrous conditions, was rebuilt through the intervention of emperor Constantius III who gave the city stability and a defensive structure that allowed the town to survive through the following centuries. Albenga established itself as a medieval municipality in 1098; in that same year Albenga joined to the First Crusade with its own banner, troops and money, receiving the rights of free trade by the King of Jerusalem. From that time on, the Golden Red Cross flag was displayed on its own ships and towers.
Later on, after the invasion of northern Italy by emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the city supported him and joined to Ghibelline coalition which was never abandoned during the following centuries. In 1159 Albenga received the imperial investiture for all its territory.
In 1798 Albenga was declared capital of the Centa Jurisdiction, as part of the short living constitution of the Ligurian Republic. In 1815 the city, together with the whole Liguria, was assigned to the Savoia ( the Italian Royal family) and became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The town was the head city of the new province of Albenga. The new district was formed with all municipalities from Andora and Finale Ligure including the country side .
In 1863, after the unification of Italy, the province was reduced to a district, and was abolished completely in 1927. In this time Albenga was reduced to an agricultural village, overtaken by other coastal towns in both economic and demographic development. Albenga wasn't a popular holiday destination like other towns in the Italian Riviera.
The name
The name of Albenga comes from the Latin Albíngaunum that comes from Album Ingaunum, that it means the capital city + genitive plural in -um. The ethnonym Ingauni ( Ingauners) consists of Indo-European origin, and a name of Gaulish-ligurian land. Album comes from alb o alp an ancient pre-Indo-European (rock, hill), often erroneously associated to "album" a Latin word meaning white or clear. The first name was Album Ingaunum, but when it was conquered by the Romans, the name became Albingaunum; after the Roman Empire the name became Albinauno and near the 1000 became Albingano. Only in the 14th century the name has become Albenga.