The patron saint of Balestrino is Saint Andrew, celebrated on 30 November. The parish church dedicated to him, in the hamlet of Poggio, has a 1641 marble altar, the work of sculptor Giovanni Orsolino, and a marble pulpit with the noble coats of arms of the Del Carretto, from 1702, moved from the earlier church in the Borgo, whose former church of Sant'Andrea was built over the remains of a pre-existing chapel between 1594 and 1624, also thanks to funding from the Balestrino-born Di Negri family, who had emigrated to Spain.
The castle overlooking the village, built between 1515 and 1559 by Marquis Pirro II Del Carretto, now looks down over an abandoned village: in 1962-1963 the settlement was rebuilt slightly further downhill due to unstable ground, and since then the old village has remained uninhabited, gradually acquiring, in its advanced state of ruin, the charm of a true ghost town. During the crucial phases of the battle of Loano in 1795, the castle and territory of Balestrino were the scene of dramatic events, and the victory of Napoleon's soldiers opened the way for Napoleon Bonaparte into north-western Italy.
