Vargo Castle and Tower

Vargo is a hamlet of the municipality of Stazzano (AL) at about 410 m above sea level. During the Middle Ages it was an imperial fiefdom under the Genoese families of Fieschi and then Doria. In 1797 it was annexed to the Ligurian Republic and after the fall of Napoleon it followed the fate of the province of Novi, becoming part of Piedmont in 1859 with the Rattazzi Decree. It was an independent municipality until 1928. Vargo has a castle known since 1157, the year of the invasions of the troops following Barbarossa, but this construction was actually born as a signal tower in the Lombard era and is part of the so-called line of castles. The town developed concentrically around the “castle”, rebuilt by the Fieschi family of Genoa, lords of Vargo since 1413: after the conspiracy against the said feudal lords, it was dismantled in 1442, and later passed to the Doria family in 1547. Next to what must have been the south-east walls, there is still an oratory dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation, while today the once fortified structure is partly used as a residence, and the very visible main tower, inside which are the living quarters of the last owner, has not been altered.