The Basilica of Saints Gervasius and Protasius stands on the main piazza in the town centre, a short walk from the seafront. The current building dates from the seventeenth century, though there has been a church on this site since at least the eleventh century. The interior is baroque in character — frescoed ceilings, carved altars, and a collection of devotional paintings — and forms the civic and religious heart of the old town.
The piazza in front of the basilica, Piazza Garibaldi (now Piazza delle Nazioni), is the gathering point for the town's main festival in early July, when the Madonna di Montallegro is brought down from the hilltop sanctuary and carried in procession through the streets. The adjacent streets of the centro storico — small alleys with the characteristic Ligurian caruggi architecture — are worth exploring for fifteen minutes in any direction from the piazza.