Imperia is a coastal city with a beautiful coastline, and nearby villages famous for its shopping, music festival, casino, and food and wine traditions
Imperia owes its name to the Impero stream that separates Oneglia from Porto Maurizio, once rival cities.
Porto Maurizio, perched on the Parasio promontory, was an important economic and commercial center already in the Middle Ages.
Oneglia, extending over the plain at the mouth of the Impero stream, was founded after the year 1000, was a fiefdom of the bishop of Albenga, later sold to the noble Genoese Doria family and finally ceded in 1576 to the Savoy.