Vernazza is documented for the first time in 1080. The significant economic and social level reached by the village in the Middle Ages is still evidenced by the town planning and architectural elements of great value, such as lodges, churches, tower houses and porches. The town is dominated by the remains of the "castrum", a series of medieval fortifications dating from the eleventh century, with a castle and a cylindrical tower. The town is made up of houses separated by a single central street and perpendicular, steep stairways called "arpaie". The most important historical monument is St. Margaret of Antioch, a Genoese Romanesque style church, which was built in the thirteenth century.