The valley road from the upper Impero descends into the Arroscia Valley and arrives at Pieve di Teco, a medieval market town with an unusually well-preserved porticoed main street. The arcaded buildings along Via Vittorio Emanuele date from the 14th to 17th centuries and give the town a unity of character that is rare in this part of Liguria — it looks like an illustration from a book about medieval Italian towns rather than a working modern municipality.
Pieve di Teco was a prosperous market town for several centuries thanks to its position at a crossroads: the road from Imperia met routes leading to Piedmont and the French border. The weekly market still takes place in the arcaded street. The Oratorio di Santa Caterina and the church of San Giovanni Battista both have works worth a look.
The town makes a natural end point for a drive up the Impero Valley; from here you can either return along the coast or continue north into the high Ligurian Alps toward Garessio and the Piedmontese border.