Alassio
The legend recounts that Adelasia, daughter of Otto I of Saxon, emperor of the Roman empire, was madly in love with Aleramo a young servant at the palace.
Opposed by the Emperor the two lovers decide to flee Germany and arrived in Liguria, where they hid in a beatiful bay that was home to some fishermen.
As usual in these cases there is a happy ending: thanks to the abilities and braveness of Aleramo during battle and thanks to the words of Albenga’s bishop, when Otto I came to Albenga he made his peace with the couple. Where Adelasia and Aleramo had settled then a city arose which in honor of the princess was called Alaxia which later became Alassio.
This is the magical and fantastic legend linked to the birth of Alassio. In reality, the center of Alassio was born around the year 1000 when the first inhabitants came down from the hill and settled near the beach, perhaps taking advantage of a moment of respite in the Saracen raids. Over the years commercial activities developed more and more because the boats were stationed in the sheltered bay to unload and load the goods that were stowed in the warehouses that overlooked the numerous alleys.
The crisis began between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when trade routes moved elsewhere and Napoleon's threat created inconvenience.
In the nineteenth century Alassio was once again a modest fishing village and many inhabitants were forced to look for work in the tuna traps scattered throughout the Mediterranean.
But the turning point was in 1872 when the railway line opened: for the navy it was the coup de grace, but paradoxically for the city economy it was the beginning of a new era. With the train, the British arrive, they are so surprised by the climate, the sea, the intact nature and above all from the small village, that they decide to buy land and build villas to spend the winter there.
So an English colony was born and with its rise the Anglican church, the English library, the tennis club, the villas in the hills and hotels, clubs, tearooms and the casino spring up. The modest fishing village thus became one of the most famous tourist centers in all of Europe visited by famous people who managed to maintain its fame even when the British left in the early 1930s due to the international situation.
Alassio’s tourist vocation does not end and resumes in the fifties and sixties, the era of the so-called "dolce Vita" of Alassio. The centerpiece is the Caffè Roma on whose stage the most famous names of the show perform. In the same years the Muretto and the Miss Muretto beauty contest conceived by Mario Berrino and Ernest Hemingway, who signs the first tile, were born and they later become the symbol of Alassio.
