Festa Ra Barca

A Rite from Long Ago

Perched on the hills of the Sanremo hinterland, the village of Bajardo (Province of Imperia) preserves one of the oldest and most evocative traditions in Liguria: the Festa Ra Barca. Considered the oldest folk festival in Western Liguria, it has roots stretching back over eight hundred years and is linked to the legend of a tragic love between the daughter of Count Rubino and a young sailor from Pisa.

The Pentecost Tree

The heart of the rite is the raising of a pine tree about thirty meters high in the village square on Pentecost. The tree, stripped of its branches except for a green frond at the top—commemorating the young protagonist of the legend—is erected by sheer manpower, with dozens of men pulling the ropes. Once raised, the villagers hold hands and circle around it, clockwise and counterclockwise, singing the ancient ballad "Ra Barca".

Historical Parade and Songs

The festival is accompanied by a historical parade with the standard-bearers and ladies of "Castel Bajardo" and the procession from the Parasio district of Taggia, while the singing is led by the Cantori di Ceriana and the women of the village. Recognized among the Authentic Events of Liguria, the Festa Ra Barca is an intangible heritage that tells the deepest identity of Bajardo and the Imperia hinterland, in an interweaving of myth, religiosity, and peasant culture.