Albenga has one of the best-preserved medieval centres on the Ligurian coast. Founded as a Roman town on the Via Julia Augusta, it retains its compact layout of narrow streets and towers — a miniature version of the kind of urban fabric you find in Genoa, but quieter and easier to explore.
The heart of the old town is Piazza San Michele, dominated by the cathedral with its fine late-Gothic campanile (rebuilt 1391-95) and an extraordinary 5th-century baptistery that has survived virtually intact — one of the oldest early Christian monuments in Liguria. Behind the cathedral, the Piazzetta dei Leoni is named for its three Renaissance stone lions. The medieval tower houses and the Museo Navale Romano — which holds artefacts from a Roman shipwreck found near Gallinara Island — are both worth a look.
Outside the walls, traces of the Roman settlement survive along the Via Julia Augusta. The surrounding plain, one of the most fertile in Liguria, produces artichokes, herbs, and early vegetables; an unexpected curiosity in the historic centre is the Slingshot Museum, which annually awards a slingshot to defenders of the underdog.