On 27 July 1745, after weeks of fighting, the allied French and Spanish armies took the fortress that controlled the Nervia valley from its rock. It was the castle's last battle, and nobody ever rebuilt it. The village, then called Dulzana, and its stronghold first appear in a document of 1177 recording them as property of the counts of Ventimiglia; in 1270 fief and castle were bought by Oberto Doria, founder of the dynasty that would go on to rule Genoa, and under him the family's lands spread to Apricale, Perinaldo and Isolabona.
What to see
The oldest part is the round tower of the 12th century, still at the centre of the complex; originally its only companion was a small building for the guardroom. Everything else belongs to the sixteenth century: Stefano Doria added a spurred bastion on the eastern side and the two identical square towers that still give the ruin its recognisable outline.
The plan reads as two blocks. The front one served the control of the village and the daily running of the garrison, with guardrooms, storerooms and prisons; the rear one, linked to it by a wide courtyard, held the reception rooms and the lords' apartments. At the foot of the walls the rock deserves attention too: the castle sits on the Ventimiglia flysch, and the exposed face shows thick sandstone beds alternating with turbidites, in which the Bouma sequence can be made out with the naked eye.
Visiting
You walk up from the old village, along the stepped lanes that start at the medieval bridge over the Nervia: ten minutes of steps and worn stone, so proper shoes are essential. The castle has belonged to the municipality since 1942 and is open with a ticket; hours change between summer and winter, so check them before setting out. Do not expect furnished rooms: these are consolidated ruins, and what counts is the structure and the view over the valley.
Our editors' tip
Go up in late afternoon, when low light rakes through the tower windows and the roofs below warm up in colour. Then come down the far side and cross the humpback bridge: that is the framing Monet painted in 1884, with the castle directly above it.