The arches and pilaster strips left on the flank say more than the façade: they are what survives of the Romanesque fabric of San Calogero, the church that stands outside the walled village of Cisano sul Neva, next to the cemetery. Local tradition credits it to Benedictine monks who came from the island of Gallinara, the islet off Albenga, and places it in the 11th century; the heritage catalogue records date the building to the 15th century instead.
What to see
It is a small stone building, and you read it by walking around it. The Romanesque traces are not a restorer's invention: original arches and pilaster strips emerge from walls reworked over the centuries, and they are the reason to stop. Inside there is nothing famous, none of the paintings that the banker Ottavio Costa brought to Conscente, the hamlet a little further up the valley.
The position explains the purpose. The church is thought to have worked as a hospital shelter: not a parish church but a place of assistance along the road climbing the Neva valley, outside the fortified quadrangle that Albenga laid out from 1274 with walls and corner towers. The dedication wavers between San Calogero and San Calocero, and you will find it written both ways.
Visiting
Cisano sul Neva lies inland from Albenga, on state road 582 over the Colle di San Bernardo. The church sits near the municipal cemetery, on Via Alessandro Colombo, a few minutes on foot from the old centre: driving there is straightforward and you can leave the car alongside. Expect to find it locked, since it is not the parish church and keeps no regular hours; in any case the interest lies in the outer walls. The natural continuation is the square-planned village, with the civic tower facing Santa Maria Maddalena.
Our editors' tip
Go in late afternoon: raking light catches the stone flank and the arches become legible again, which does not happen at midday. We pair the stop with a drive up to Conscente, where the Costa castle commands the valley from above. Half an hour in all, and the control of the Neva makes sense: the threshold church below, the armed stronghold on the ridge.