San Remo is the Town of Flowers and of unexpected Baroque monuments that splendidly represent the richest and quaintest style of European architecture.
Let's have a close look to the town streets where we can find some Baroque jewels, such as the Church of St Stephen, the Church of St Mary of the Angels, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Coast, Borea Palace, the Church of St Joseph, the Oratory of St Brigid, and the Oratory of St Sebastian.
The Church of St Stephen - in Piazza Cassini - was built in the Medieval Ages and was then modified in the seventeenth century. The building has a rectangular layout surrounded by chapels and choirs. In 1624 the church was given to the Jesuits who had come to San Remo to found a boarding school.
Walking along Via Palazzo towards Piazza Colombo, you will reach the Church of St Mary of the Angels that is surrounded by nineteenth-century houses and post-war buildings. It certainly stands out against the modern architecture of the nearby Market of Flowers. Its façade is rich in stuccoes and the three portals are separated by pilasters decorated with capitals. On the top-centre part of the façade you will see a large decorated rose window. Along its three aisle, you can find several private chapels. In the church you can find the vestments of St Nicholas of Bari and St Antonio of Padua chapels and an altar-piece portraying the two saints together with the Virgin Mary with Child and St Francis while adoring the Crucifix.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Coast overlooks San Remo. You can reach the sanctuary following a short way up to the top of the hillock. The façade of the sanctuary is characterised by two bell towers on its two sides and a large rose window surrounded by stuccoes.
Past the marble portal, you will find one singe aisle along which several chapels are lined. The dome is characterised by large windows, stuccoes, and frescoes. Stuccoes, frescoes, paintings, and marbles are but the "frame" of the real treasure of the sanctuary, i.e. a fourteenth-century painting portraying the Virgin Mary with Child.
The Borea Palace is right in the heart of San Remo. One of its façades overlooks Corso Matteotti - the shopping avenue - while the other overlooks Via Cavour. One the most interesting elements of the Palace is the entrance-hall with its cross vaults propped by marble columns.
Do not let yourself be deceived by the deliberate simple style of the mezzanines: they will introduce you to the rich decorations and paintings of the top floors, where you can find the Town Museum and Painting-gallery on the piano nobile. The small chapel on the second floor houses a marble altar and a statue of the Virgin Mary - presumably by Ponsonelli. Moving to the the large hall, you will notice its blue-painted vaulted roof. The hall is surrounded by several rooms and in one of this rooms once stayed Pope Pius VII on his journey from France to Rome. The roof of the room is decorated with putti that seem to chase each other in the sky. Finally along the large staircase you can find pictures of the Borea d'Olmo family.
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