On the Riviera dei Fiori, Imperia is actually not a city as we usually understand it, Imperia was born in 1923 with a decree by Vittorio Emanuele III and from that moment begins its story.

The most important centers of the eleven relatives on that date are Oneglia and Porto Maurizio. Even today we see the division of the past, among the villages there is a large space of a few kilometers where the municipality and the post office were built precisely to show that it is a single city. .

The name Imperia comes from the Impero River that separates Porto Maurizio from Oneglia, the ancient strong rivalry between the two hamlets certainly did not facilitate forced coexistence at the beginning. Porto Maurizio is located at the top of the Parasio promontory and already in the Middle Ages it was an important commercial and autonomous center, faithful to the Genoese while the history of Oneglia is completely different.

It was founded after the year 1000 as a fief of the bishop of Albenga, sold to the Doria and then sold to the Savoy. So the differences were really remarkable. In common they had the production and trade of the excellent and delicate olive oil that has been prepared for centuries with Ligurian olives and is very well known among gourmets and lovers of good oil.

Everything you need to know about the history and cultivation of olive trees and the production of the nectar that is extracted from it, you can find it in the Olive Museum in Via Garessio in Oneglia, a very interesting museum.
Oneglia is located at the mouth of the Impero stream and the old part with the ancient fishermen's houses and the Doria Palace (do you remember Admiral Andrea?) stretches along the sea. There are numerous shops and restaurants in the inland streets and along the seafront.

The toponymy of Porto Maurizio instead is completely different, the ancient medieval village is a maze of narrow streets, alleys, caruggi and creuzi (alleys and paths in dialect) almost vertically on the fortress, very suggestive and nice. Beautiful is the view of the gulf from the top of the village. Going down to the sea, you arrive at the port of Maurizio, today a marina that attracts thousands of visitors every two years on the occasion of the Vele d'Epoca event.