PORTO MAURIZIO  , a city of Liguria, Italy, the capital of the province of Porto Maurizio, on the coast of the Ligurian Sea, 46 m. by rail E. of Nice and 7o m . S.W. of Genoa, 115 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (1901), 7207 . It consists of a picturesque old town on the heights and a modern town of villas on the lower slopes . The principal church, designed by Gaetano Cantone, is a large structure of 1780 with a dome rebuilt in 1821 . A few remains of the old city walls may be seen . About 2 M. north-east of Porto Maurizio is the town of Oneglia, with a fine church, S . Giovanni Battista, designed by Gaetano Amoretti, a hospital (1785) and a large prison . It suffered considerably from the earthquake of 1887 . Maurizio and Oneglia lie on the same b and boll have small but safe harbours, both are frequented for sea-bathing, and both are embowered amid olive groves; and the district is famous for the quality of its oil . The two towns together form one commune, called imperia, which had a population of 15,459 in 1907 .

Porto Maurizio appears as

Portus Maurici in the Maritime Itinerary . After being subject to the marquises of Turin (11th century) and of Clavesana, it was sold by Boniface of Clavesana in 1288 to Genoa in return for a yearly payment; in 1354 it became the seat of the Genoese vicar of the western Riviera, and remained in the possession of the republic till it was merged in the kingdom of Sardinia . Oneglia, formerly situated inland at the place called Castelvecchio (old castle), has occupied its present site from about 935 . The bishops of Albenga sold it in 1298 to the Dorias of Genoa, who in their turn disposed of it in 1576 to Emanuel Philibert of Savoy . In the wars of the house of Savoy Oneglia often changed hands . In 1614 and 1649 the Spaniards and in 1623 and 1672 the Genoese obtained possession; in 1692 it had to repulse an attack by a French squadron; in 1744-1745 it was again occupied by the Spaniards, and in 1792 bombarded and burned by the French . Pellegrino Amoretti, assistant secretary to Charles V., and Andrea Doria, the famous admiral, were natives of Oneglia . See G . Donaudi, Storia di Porto Maurizio (1889) .