The patron saint of Chiavari is Our Lady of the Garden (Nostra Signora dell'Orto), celebrated on 2 and 3 July with a procession, fair and market stalls, besides the fireworks that accompany the celebration. The cathedral dedicated to her, among the most important sanctuaries of the Tigullio area, was built in 1613 after the Marian apparition that tradition says occurred on 2 July 1610 to fellow townsman Sebastiano Descalzo: the building is marked by an imposing marble pronaos, designed in 1836 by architect Luigi Poletti and completed only in 1907. In the sanctuary square, also home to the town hall, stands the marble monument to Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy, made in 1898 by Luigi Brizzolara.
Our Lady of the Garden is patron of the town and co-patron, together with Our Lady of Montallegro of Rapallo, of the diocese of Chiavari, established only in 1892: precisely because of this relatively recent founding, the cathedral does not hold a long history of its own, but preserves numerous items from the town's churches and its surrounding area, including paintings from the church of San Giovanni Battista and works gathered from Santa Margherita Ligure, Rapallo, Moneglia and Sestri Levante.
