ALASSIO AND ITS FLORA 
17 
and thus the Benedictine institution fell into 
decay so that in A. D. 1303 we have the fa- 
mous deed of sale of the above named supre- 
macy in favour of Albenga. This document 
a thousand times repudiated as false by 
the ancient Alassians, and which was the 
cause of so many struggles between the 
Alassians and the inhabitants of Albenga, 
seems to us also of doubtful authority. 
Long before this sale towards the end 
of 1100 it is certain that the still existing 
brotherhood of Sa7ita Caterina was for- 
med in Alassio, and until the French revo- 
lution preserved the right of judicature 
over its members. To the piety of the Alas- 
sians of that time are due the rural san- 
tuaries that are to be found on the hills 
around. 
Thus Nostra Signora della Guardia was 
built on the site of a Roman fortress, across 
the Roman Consular road called Aurelia 
on Mo7ite Tirasso at the end of the year 
1200. Nostra ^ignora delle Grazie was re- 
built in 1266, ^an Rocco, San Bernardo^ 
Nostra Signora della iV^'y^ (commonly called 
Del Venfo), were erected about the thir- 
Alassio and its Flora 2 
