The place-name Costaguta evidently originates from Costa Acuta, i.e. a rather steep and slender coastline, and in fact the territory of the Sestiere is developed in the woods that cover the acute displuvial that separates the Gulf of Rapallo from the Bay of San Michele di Pagana.
In the past, Costaguta was included in the Sestiere known as ‘Olivastro’, a toponym referring to the presence of olive trees on these hills.
It also included the current Sestiere of San Michele di Pagana, as well as the parishes of San Lorenzo della Costa, San Massimo and Foggia.
In the year 1608, at the time of the establishment of the Captaincy of Rapallo, the ‘villa di Costaguta’ had 149 inhabitants, distributed in 35 ‘fuochi’.
The Ambrosian influence on the Rapallo church dates back to the years between 586 and 644, when the Bishops of Milan, faced with the invasion of the Lombards, moved their see to Genoa. In 1118, Pope Gelasius II consecrated the parish of Rapallo to Saints Gervasius and Protasius.
Tradition has always linked the name of these two martyrs to the Sestiere Costaguta: in fact, according to legend, Saints Gervasius and Protasius passed by Costaguta during their apostolic work.
The small church in the woods at Chiosa, built in 1935 with donations from various families and the entire population of the Sestiere, is dedicated to them. Today, the Committee lights its old-fashioned fires in the Giardini dei Partigiani, near the Carlo Riva Port.
