Favale di Malvaro

The village of Favale di Malvaro owes its name to the traditional cultivation of broad beans and to the Malvaro stream that crosses the entire valley to enter the Lavagna.

The pure and light water of its streams and springs is a true wealth of these places. According to tradition, the name of the Fontanabuona Valley itself derives from thevery fresh water that flows in the various fountains of Favale.

The lower part of the Malvaro Valley is characterized by various crops from small villages of characteristic stone houses with slate roofs. As you go up the road that reaches the Passo della Scoglina the landscape takes on an Apennine character, showing well-preserved chestnut groves, grazing areas and a very scenic ridge.

The pass is located at 926 meters above sea level and connects Favale to the Trebbia Valley and the Aveto Valley. It is also crossed by theAlta Via dei Monti Liguri, the famous Apennine path that runs through the whole of Liguria. The neighbour Mount Caucasus, the water jump of theAcquapendente, and the beautiful beech woods, the panoramic views of the coast give a great charm to the whole area of the ridge.

Favale is a capital offontanine emigration as evidenced by the monument to the emigrant placed in the town square and the annual festival dedicated to emigration at the end of June.

Between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, many embarked on the journey to the Americas, in particular to Peru and California to find better living conditions. The best known of all was the banker Pietro Giannini Founder of the Bank of Italy which later became Bank of America. A character considered by many to be the most extraordinary banker in the world. The Municipality has dedicated a small museum to him located in the locality of Acereto in an eighteenth-century building that was the paternal house.

The effects of the remittances of the emigrants can still be seen today in the finely frescoed houses and in the grandiose windows of the Parish Church.

The visit is very interesting: the small but significant one Monteghirfo Ethnographic Museum, a very pleasant hamlet of Favale and Lorsica and the remains of a small evangelical cemetery located near Scoglina, a real curiosity of the valley, which recalls the existence at the end of the 19th century of a small Waldensian Evangelical community formed around the Cereghino family of storytellers