A seaside resort at the eastern end of the fertile Albenga plain, situated at the foot of Monte Croce (541 meters or 1775 feet), it used to be a possession of the bishop of Albenga. Passing to the republic of Genoa in the fourteenth century, it was governed by a podestà. In 1563 a circular bastion was built on the beach as a defense against the frequent Saracen raids, but in 1637 the town was attacked by Barbary pirates, who sacked and burned it and ordered the deportation of the entire population. The “landing of the Turks” is commemorated every year at the beginning of July. Valuable works of art are housed in the baroque parish church of Santi Giovanni ed Eugenio, while the church of the cemetery, at Peagna, contains traces of frescoes from the fifteenth-sixteenth century. This small village in the immediate hinterland of Ceriale is accessible by means of a narrow and gently sloping alley, lined with pots of geraniums and basil. An important cultural festival is staged there in the summer, culminating in a book fair.