Piaggine

Strolling through Piaggine, especially through the oldest areas such as Ponte S.Giuseppe, Tempa, Coste and S. Anna, you feel like going back in time, through a maze of alleys, steps that climb up to the mountains, up to picturesque corners, old courtyards of ancient houses looking onto wonderful panoramas, and also elegant, artistic stone portals, witnesses of a glorious past and a refined skill of artists, unfortunately remained anonymous.
The town develops sloping down towards the Calore River, in the shape of an “X”.

Ancient Palaces
Coats of arms, portals and courtyards characterize many palaces of Piaggine.
The most important courtyards are paved with cobblestone made with the river’s stones. All they have a water well, a chapel, small gardens with flowers and vines and warehouses (called "magazzeni" in dialect) to store supplies: they were probably used as garage for coaches, as iron (or stone) rings to tie animals (in dialect "voccule") testify to.
Palazzo Vairo in Piazza Plebiscito, built in 1700 is an example of that kind of building: the façade is a real gem; the stone Portal (three meters high), very elegant, bears the coat of arms of the family: a snake coiled around an anchor in the sea, with three stars above. The windows’ frame and the balcony are finely carved.
On the outer wall a stone frame separates the ground floor from the first floor. The volute of the balcony’s wrought iron reminds us the curlicues motif of the stone decorations. 
The courtyard, once paved with river’s stone (dialect: "rummoli"), has a water well, a chapel and a pergola.

Churches and monasteries
The religious fervor is testified by the presence of two monasteries, that of the Benedictines in the old town area, and that of the Capuchins (1615, with a library, seat of a school of Theology and Philosophy) in the upper part of the town, besides many churches:

Church of St. Nicholas, built in 1500, but repeatedly renovated.

Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, annexed to the Capuchin monastery, of which only the cloister remains. It was built in the 1500s and contains a polyptych (1633) by Giovanni De Gregorio (aka Pietrafesa).
Church of Saint Anne.
Church of Saint Peter of the 1200s, restored in the 17th century and recently again.

Church of Our Lady of Graces, on the upper town.

Church of Madonna del Vivo, a chapel set on the mount at 1100 m above sea level. It opens on August 15, to celebrate Our Lady of the Assumption.

Small chapel in a natural Grotto on Mount Cervati (1898 m) dedicated to Our Lady of Snow, celebrated on August 5.