VENTIMIGLIA (Fr. V intimate, anc. Album Intimilium or Albintimilium), a frontier fortress, seaport and episcopal see of Liguria, Italy, in the province of Imperia, 94 m. W. by S. of Genoa by rail, and 4 m. from the Franco-Italian frontier, 45 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1931) 12,584 (town), 17,081 (commune). The railway to Cuneo over the Col di Tenda (65 m.) has been completed. The new town is important as a frontier station and for its flower market. The present Gothic cathedral is built on the ruins of an earlier Lombard church, and With the octagonal baptistery, the seminary, etc., forms a picturesque group of buildings. S. Michele is another interesting old church. Both lie in the old town, on a hill above the new. The ruins of the ancient town are situated in the plain of Nervia, 3 m. E. of the
modern. It was a municipium with an extensive territory, and of some importance under the Empire, but was plundered by the partisans of Otho in A.D. 69. Remains of a theatre are visible, and remains of many other buildings have been discovered, among them traces of the ancient city walls, a fine mosaic pavement and a number of tombs to the west of the theatre. The caves of the Balzi Rossi near the village of Grimaldi have proved rich in palaeolithic remains of the Quaternary period, while round Monte Bego above S. Dalmazzo di Tenda, north of Ventimiglia are numerous engravings (over 12,000) assignable to the Bronze Age.
See P. Barocelli in Monumenti del Lincei xxix. (1923-25) for a register of all discoveries; cf. also Bollettino d'Ante, p. 471 (1924).