The geographical territory of Pieve di Teco extends over a short flat stretch of the middle valley of the Arroscia stream, at the confluence with the Rio dei Fanghi and on the first slopes of Mount Frascinello (1120 m).
The village of Pievese, located at the mouth of three narrow valleys, is dominated by three main mountains: the Colle di Teco in the northern area, the Baraccone (860 m) to the west and the Colle di Sant’Antonio (also called Frascinello) in the Levantine area. Other peaks of the Pievese territory the Rocca delle Penne (1501 m), Mount Prearba (1446 m), Mount Ciazza del Bausso (1228 m), Mount Bellerasco (1179 m), Punta Alto (1082 m), Mount dell’Averna (1042 m), the Poggio di Lovegno (926 m), Mount San Bernardo (815 m), Mount Crocetta (642 m).
Origins of the name
The town’s name derives from the Latin words of Plebs – community or church on which other rural religious buildings depend – and Theicos, an ancient Celtic divinity from which the name of the mountain on which Pieve di Teco would derive.
History
Feudal dominion of the Marquises of Clavesana, it was the latter who built a castle near Mount Teco and again in the area of the plain, around 1125, a guardhouse and a small fortress for the control of traffic and goods, and of a perhaps already pre-existing village on the edge of the Ceive plateau.
The current village of Pieve di Teco saw the birth in 1233 by the will of the Marquis Antonio di Clavesana, feudal lord of the place, in whose foundation and building several valley communities in the Arroscia area participated. The work involved the settlement of about 200-300 families in the new village which was equipped with a new castle and a new church, today’s oratory of San Giovanni Battista. In 1370 the Benedictines built the first parish church of the Madonna della Ripa, while the current parish collegiate church of San Giovanni Battista was built around 1460.
From 1386 Pieve di Teco was subjected to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Genoa which preserved the ancient medieval style town built under the domination of the Clavesana and erecting it as the seat of captaincy. The latter was very important for the Genoese republic, as it was placed on the border with the Piedmontese territory, in a strategic area for the dominion of the Arroscia valley.
For ten years – from 1426 to 1436 – it was occupied by Francesco Spinola, Marquis of the famous Genoese family, and after years of alternating feudal domination, in 1512, the Republic ceded sovereignty over Pieve di Teco to the House of San Giorgio. However, since the administration of the territorial possessions had proved uneconomic, the House of San Giorgio returned to the Republic all the territories that remained in sovereignty, including Pieve di Teco, in 1562.
The village – in particular the walls and the castle – underwent countless invasions over the centuries, especially in the war between the Genoese and the Duchy of Savoy in 1625, and each time the Pievesi had to face the reconstruction of the town.
After a short period of peace, a new dispute in 1672 between the fiefdom of Rezzo (linked to Genoa) and Cenova (included in the Savoy marquisate of Maro) was the spark that gave rise to a new political conflict between the republic and the Savoy duchy. Genoa reacted to the umpteenth clash by hiring troops of mercenaries from Corsica, who in the vicinity of the region called Savonera faced the Piedmontese, causing them huge losses. In the clashes between the two sides, the inhabitants of the Arroscia valley suffered greater damage, as they found themselves right in the middle of the attack. The Savoy duchy in turn attacked the Corsican-Genoese army on the morning of 21 July 1672 where, thanks to new reinforcements from the guards, they managed to defeat the mercenaries in the locality of Paperera, which since then took on the new name of Paperera delle Guardie. A plaque will remind posterity of the war event, an epigraph that will be destroyed during the partisan struggle of the Resistance in the Second World War .
The Duchy of Savoy managed to conquer Pieve di Teco in 1744, but already in 1786 the population clashed with the nearby Piedmontese village of Ormea due to the pastures in the territory of Viozene. In 1794 he witnessed the passage of the French army headed for Piedmont which left the village and the valley of the Impero river in ruins. As part of the first Napoleonic campaign in Italy, general Napoleon Bonaparte‘s overnight stay in Pieve di Teco is reported in the chronicles of the village .
With the French domination the Pievese territory returned from 2 December 1797 within the Ligurian Republic. From 28 April 1798 it was part of the VIII canton, as the capital, of the Jurisdiction of Centa and from 1803 the main center of the III canton of the same name in the Jurisdiction of Olives. Annexed to the First French Empire from 13 June 1805 to 1814, it was included in the Department of Montenotte. In 1815 the territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia, as established by the Congress of Vienna in 1814, and subsequently into the Kingdom of Italy from 1861. From 1859 to 1926 the territory was included in the 5th district of Pieve di Teco del district of Porto Maurizio, part of the province of Porto Maurizio (later the Province of Imperia, since 1923). In 1862 it assumed the current name of Pieve di Teco.
It underwent some administrative adjustments in 1928 when the territories of the suppressed municipalities of Moano and Armo were aggregated to the municipality of Pieve di Teco, and again in 1929 with the incorporation of Calderara (the latter together with Cartari, until that year, it was the municipality of Cartari and Calderara); the fraction of Cartari was instead annexed to Cesio, while the former fraction of the suppressed municipality, Siglioli, was joined to Vessalico ). Finally, the last modification on the borders dates back to 1949.
From 1973 to 31 December 2008 it was the administrative headquarters of the Alta Valle Arroscia mountain community.
Source: Wikipedia