In ancient times, the whole valley was covered by a thick wood and was called LUCUS BORMANI, in honour of the god Borman, worshipped by the local inhabitants.
At the beginning of the Roman period, the area was consecrated to the goddess Diana. The Roman road Via Julia Augusta passed through this plain. Already in 700 B. C. Diano Castello was an important resting and supplying place along the Via Julia.
Many interesting remains, found in Roman ships that sank off the coast of Diano Marina, witness the Roman presence in our area. Among them, plenty of wonderful crock amphorae, which were used for carrying oil, wine, wheat and hazel-nuts by sea. Some samples can be seen in the entrance of our town hall.
Around the year 100 A.D. , the Saints Lazaro and Celso begun the evangelisation process. The small church devoted to them is an interesting witness of paleochristian origin.
Around the 12th century, the Benedictine monks brought the olive farming tradition to our region, still important nowadays.
In 1887 the ancient seafaring village of Diano Marina was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake and was rebuilt (on the project of the architect Pisani), from Turin. Since then, tourism became a real vocation for this town.
The Hotel Paradiso is considered the symbol of the rebirth of Diano, built by a colony of Milanese, who chose the locality because of its agreeable coast, but most of all for the favourable climate.
The Pope Pio VII slept in the palace called "the Vaticano" (between Via Cavour and Via Genala) while travelling to France.
In the Palazzo del Parco (the Park's Palace) there is the civic museum of History and Archaeology, that holds many pre-Roman and Roman finds, and many exhibits belonging to the Napoleonic period and the Italian Risorgimento.