The patron saint of Bormida is Saint George, celebrated on 23 April. In antiquity the town formed a single community together with Osiglia, from which it broke away ecclesiastically by building, in 1481, its own parish church dedicated to Saint George: the building preserves fine paintings and wooden statues, including a Madonna attributed to the sculptor Anton Maria Maragliano and one depicting Saint George slaying the dragon. The Baroque bell tower rests on an earlier base, while the structure, renovated at the end of the 17th century, was enlarged to its present form between 1786 and 1814.
It was precisely in 1795, amid the first stirrings of the Napoleonic wars, that the people of Bormida hastily inaugurated the new parish church, whose expansion works were still under way. The following year, the passage of Napoleon Bonaparte's French troops during the first Italian campaign brought devastation and destruction: a trench was dug near the slopes of Ronco di Maglio shortly before the famous Battle of Montenotte, on 12 April.
