Favale di Malvaro - Italy

Favale di Malvaro (GE)

Liguria (Italy)

The town looks like a collection of small hamlets scattered in the valley of Malvaro, a tributary of Lavagna.
The land is mostly wooded and offers many possibilities for excursions, including noteworthy is the promenade along the eastern slope of Mount Caucaso (1245 m), the highest peak of Fontanabuona.
The toponym Favale is due to the cultivation of "grains" - beans, peas and chickpeas - which for centuries were the main food resource of the area, not suitable for major crops.
Many pastures, typical rural houses inhabited by peasants and shepherds only in certain seasons of the year, you may encounter when hiking in remote areas.
Popular crafts, including carpentry, low compared to other centers of Fontanabuona, extraction and processing of slate.
From the middle of last century was very strong emigration to the Americas is estimated that over one hundred years are part of Favale di Malvaro three thousand people.
Not a few, considering that currently the population does not exceed eight hundred units.
Acereto in area you can visit the Emigrant Museum, housed in the family home of the most famous of the "Fontanini" landed in the New World: Amadeo Peter Giannini (1870 - 1949), founder of Bank of America and Italy.
The museum showcases a few items of daily use of the last century (as the trough, the sewing machine, the chest) and two series of panels illustrates the life of Giannini and the story of his great undertaking, a rare example of convergence between Finance and solidarity.
On June 25 we celebrate the feast of the emigrant: the Favalesi of America will not miss the appointment, and return every year to keep a steady ties with the homeland.