Until 1862 the village was called simply Tovo. That year the town council voted to add the name of the parish church's patron saint to the place name; the royal decree followed in 1863, and the maps have read Tovo San Giacomo ever since. The church of San Giacomo il Maggiore stands in the main settlement, on piazza Zunino, known until a few decades ago as piazza Umberto I, leaning against the side of the town hall: parish and municipal offices share the same small square.
What to see
Inside are statues of Genoese workmanship, the kind of altar and processional sculpture that the workshops of Genoa supplied to parishes all along the western Riviera. They were made to be carried, seen close up and handled by devotion, not to sit behind glass.
The painted decoration is by Gerolamo Graffigna, a Genoese painter who lived between 1861 and 1932 and worked in many churches across the region in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is late work, competent and unshowy, meant to be read from the floor with your head tilted back: worth the five minutes it takes to walk the nave slowly.
Visiting
Tovo San Giacomo lies in the Maremola valley, on the left bank of the stream, at 321 metres above sea level on the southern slopes of the colle dei Folchi. The road up is the provincial 4, which starts at Pietra Ligure and continues towards Magliolo; without a car, TPL bus line 86 follows the same route and stops in the centre. The sea is three kilometres away, which explains why so many people drive through without stopping. The square is small, and the church opens mainly around service times; outside those hours it is worth asking next door at the town hall.
Our editors' tip
After the parish church take via Roma and look for the church of San Martino di Tours: a private chapel, frescoed throughout, with portraits of its owners painted on the outside wall. Then climb up to Il Poggio, the highest cluster of houses in the village, where the pedestrian carugio ends in front of the chapel of the Madonna.