French Impressionist painter Claude Monet made it the subject of some of his famous paintings, and called it a “jewel of lightness.” Dolceacqua (literally, ‘sweet water’) is a typical medieval village of Val Nervia, on the hills of the Ligurian hinterland between Ventimiglia and Bordighera, in the western portion of the Italian Riviera, close to the border with France. The Castle of the Doria overlooks the old part of the village, at the foot of Mount Rebuffao, which the residents call Terra (‘earth’). The modern part, called Borgo, develops on the opposite bank of the river Nervia.

Two panels reproducing two paintings by Monet, who painted Dolceacqua’s bridge and the castle, have been positioned in the exact place where the artist placed his easel. Dolceacqua was the impregnable fortress of the Republic of Genoa until the Napoleonic era. Strolling the typical carugi streets, visitors will find many artists' workshops, handicraft shops, cellars and grocery stores selling typical products.