MAIRIE DE GORBIO

Dominated by Mount Agel, 1 150 m, the top of Gorbio, 929 m, and the Col de Madone, 927 m, located at an altitude of 360 m, this village has preserved its medieval appearance, small alleys, stairs, covered passages, pontis. On the square of the village, with a fountain, a giant elm of nearly 6 m of circumference was planted in 1713, under Louis XIV!

Some of the very old doors, sometimes ranges in the rock, show croisée arcades. The old castle is in ruins. The church Saint-Barthélemy, built at the end of the th century, is a beautiful specimen of Baroque art. The steeple is covered with glazed tiles. Inside, polychrome virgin and Christ of the sixteenth century, baptismal of black marble, painting of Brea school. In front of the church is the chapel of the White Penitent, built in the th century. It is still open to worship today. Beside the church, you can admire a beautiful panorama of the Italian coast of the Bordighera region. If you can visit Gorbio on the day of the Feast-Dieu, in June you will not be disappointed. That day takes the procession to slugs. Many small oil lamps with a wick and made in snails shells are located on the streets and in front of the houses. A processionnaire procession, led by the white boycotts, crosses the village. The origin of this tradition, it is said, in Charles Quint, one of whom would have wished to honour the visit he made to Gorbio in 1538. Another explanation gives the origin of this procession to a form of prayer addressed to heaven to obtain rain during dry spring.