Hystorical informations

In the ancient documents the name Fontanarossa is always written " Fontana Rubea " (red fountain), but the historian Carraro says that the word “rossa” (red) comes from “roggia”.
In the “Bulletin Ligustico “1956 N°s 1-3 the village is named, together with others neighboring lands as area of discovery of finds of the Roman age; they are not significant but allow us to suppose the presence of homogeneous Roman seats on the two mountain slopes, Piedmontese and Ligure, of the Antola-Carmo dorsal.

Up to the end of the Middle Ages there are no documents testifying the history of Fontanarossa, although in the cemetery of the village we can still find the ancient Saracen church of Saint Stephen built around the year Thousand; the church is defined Saracen because some characteristics suggest it was built by Saracens; in fact in 935 the Saracen pirates of the caliph Maliero Muhamond put on fire and iron the town of Genoa and subsequently they pushed their raids up to the hinterland. We can suppose that after their defeat, some pirates remained in Liguria and in orrder to avoid the persecutions, hid in sufficiently isolated suburbs; it is probable that one of these these groups of fugitives, once called "marrani", reached Fontanarossa building the future church of S. Stefano.

In 1197 the country was subject to the Malaspina, powerful family ghibellina while Muso Ferrario and Giovanni of Fontanarossa were their vassals. In 1361 the village was surrendered, together with other earths, to Galeazzo II Visconti, lord of Milan, and later passed to the Fieschi family.

In the 1515 Fontanarossa was under the domination of the Pallavicini and the Prince Doria in Genoa owned the land for centuries and built the palace, still existing without the original tower; it was for a long time “Court of Justice” with jails, traps, gallows and wheels.
As from historical documents of the Record Office, and as written on marble in the centre of village, Susanna Fontanarossa, mother of Cristoforo Colombo, could be born in Fontanarossa, specifically in its hamlet “Le Ferriere”
In 1668 the village belonged to the Doria of Cabella and twenty years after Girolamo Spinola was its feudatary; in 1783 it was feud of the Doria family.

In the recent times the village followed the destiny of the Italian history: it passed under the Kingdom of Sardinia, Kingdom of Italy, Province of Pavia, District of Bobbio, District of Ottone, Commune of Gorreto that in 1924 passed under the Province of Genoa up to the constitution of the Italian Republic.
In the indipendence wars the inhabitants of Fontanarossa gave their contribution to Italy, one of them, Carlo Biggi, participated in the expedition of Giuseppe Garibaldi; seven people died in the First World War and one, Giacomo Mangini, in the Second World War. In this last war partisans and Germans passed through Fontanarossa, there were mopped up, and some persecuted Hebrews and British soldiers were hidden in the village, so Fontanarossa’s inhabitants took enormous risks but had the opportunity of showing their great heart. In the last century many inhabitants emigrated both towards the North America and towards the nearest cities of Genoa and Milan, but anywhere they were well known for their work, tenacity and ability .In the last decades the village survives for tourism increasing the population during the summer period.