The castle of Aquila was put up around 1090 on a rise at 827 metres, at the point where the Arroscia valley and the Pennavaire valley can both be watched at once. It is a ruin today, but the logic of the site is still obvious at first glance: from here you can see the castle of Alto, and the two belonged to the same chain of forts linked by line of sight.
What to see
What remains is a polygonal tower with its top gone, built of irregular stones laid in courses parallel to the ground, and some stretches of the outer perimeter; on the north side traces of battlements can still be made out. The knoll is a short distance from the Rocca Grande, and the view opens on both sides of the ridge.
Visiting
It is a quarter of an hour on foot from the chapel of San Giacomo, on the ridge between the Arroscia and the Pennavaire, reached by a narrow road from Aquila d'Arroscia or from Caprauna. There are no facilities on site: walking shoes, nothing else. Of the castle it is known that from 1202 it belonged to the marquises of Clavesana, who in 1286 threw back an assault by the troops of Albenga and held it, apart from a Del Carretto interlude, until 1393, when they sold it to Genoa.
Our editors' tip
Go up in low light, late afternoon: the two valleys read better, and you understand why a castle stood exactly there and not five hundred metres further along.