The patron saint of Ortovero is Saint Sylvester, celebrated on 31 December, in the parish church dedicated to him, outside the historic centre: of medieval origin, it underwent successive structural work between the 17th and 18th centuries and was restored in the 19th century, when it received Romanesque-style decorations.
In the Middle Ages, the town of Ortovero and its castle were an important stronghold of the marquises of Clavesana against the growing power of the nearby town of Albenga: as early as 1242 the inhabitants made a first attempt at independence by organising themselves into an Universitas and Comunitas, without success, which instead worsened relations with the marquises. The transfer of ownership of the castle, the fief and the territory from the Clavesana to the town of Albenga took place in 1341, and from then on Ortovero followed its fortunes, and in parallel those of the Republic of Genoa, until the Napoleonic domination of the late 18th century. In the hamlet of Pogli, a fortified village founded in 1288, a museum dedicated to local history, the Historia Pulei, was established in 2020.
