Strada (Frazione)

Tiny hamlet where a local dialect is still spoken

Address Strada, frazione of Roccavignale

Strada is one of the small hamlets that make up the commune of Roccavignale. It sits a short walk from the main village along a quiet country road and is notable mainly as a curiosity of Italian linguistic geography: a separate, almost entirely undocumented local dialect is still spoken by the dwindling resident population.

There is little to see in the conventional sense — a clutch of stone houses, a small chapel, terraced fields running down to the Bormida — but the setting is attractive and the walk worthwhile for anyone exploring the Ligurian backcountry.

things to do sight
A story
The hamlet of Strada, a small frazione of Roccavignale, is one of the very few places in Liguria where a distinct local Romance dialect — distinct even from the wider Ligurian variants of the surrounding villages — survives in daily use among a handful of remaining speakers. It is the kind of micro-linguistic island that the Italian Apennines specialise in.