An agricultural center on the northern side of the Ligurian Appennines, situated on the ridge that separates the upper valleys of the two Bormidas. Most of the territory is sparsely settled. Mentioned in a diploma of Otto I in 967, it came into the possession of the marchesi di Clavesana in the twelfth century and later passed to the Del Carretto. It was the site of an important medieval castle, the “castrum Crucis Ferraee,” of which the entrance gate, a substantial section of the walls and part of the keep still stand guard over the pass of Montecala. The parish church of the Immacolata was rebuilt in 1656-60 and restored in 1831. It has a fine rose window at the front. The main agricultural products of the area are vegetables and fodder for the raising of cattle.