First Cistercian abbey in Italy and the first outside France, the abbey of Santa Maria della Croce, commonly called the Abbey of Tiglieto, dates back to 1120. The abbey is situated on the road connecting Tiglieto to Urbe. Shortly after the bridge on the Orba you follow a country road that leads to the plain where, surrounded by a beautiful area with trees, the abbey stands.

Behind the seafront of Pegli, on a parallel street, there is the entrance to Villa Durazzo Pallavicini. The first steps along the road that leads to the Villa are charming: it’s home to the Museum of Ligurian Archaeology and also contains marbles from ancient Rome. Not far away a unique journey into nature begins; it’s conceived as a screenplay in three acts by the Genovese Michele Canzio, stage of the Teatro Carlo Felice, designer and creator of the nineteenth-century version of the park (1840-46) commissioned by Ignazio Pallavicini and further by his daughter Teresa.

The golf course in Cogoleto derives its name from a chapel dedicated to St. Anne and occupies about 65 hectares of a green area which once was a rural site and now has been saved from degradation and enhanced by the environmental point of view: today it’s a sports attraction pole consisting of an 18 holes course in a lovely setting, for all lovers of the “green”, looking to combine sport with a relaxing holiday, with nature and culture and take advantage of the good climate of Liguria to play all year.

The sea is really always at home in Cogoleto! The narrow alleys that lead down from the caruggio – the central main street – towards the sea are called scali (slipways) because they were used for dragging boats down towards the water.

It is a Baroque church with a nave. The valuable altar - donated, according to tradition, by the family of Christopher Columbus - hosts the altarpiece “St. John the Baptist preaching to the people”, of the seventeenth century. The work is interesting because it portrays some members of local families.
The church also contains a statue of the Immaculate Conception of Mary attributed to Anton Maria Maragliano.

The church was probably built in the sixteenth century but was rebuilt in the mid-eighteenth century after a disastrous fire. The architect in charge, Carlo Mutone, designed a building with a wide nave covered by a barrel vault that was frescoed by Luigi Gainotti and Carlo Orgero.