Toirano is an old village that preserves a ring of walls, keeps and old medieval houses. It owes its origin to the fortification that blocked the valley in the Byzantine-Longobard period. The extant medieval building structures still show evident remains of the old portals. The economy was based on agriculture, and particularly on wine-growing and fruit-growing. Towards the end of the Middle Ages some handicraft activities developed, and in particular the manufacture of paper, a flourishing activity until the 18th century. Rich olive production allowed the development of the oil industry with the documented construction of the first crushers in the 13th century. The crushers, called gumbi, every summer are at the centre of the Gumbi Feast, a gastronomic itinerary and exhibition and market that animates the wine cellars and the carruggi of the historic area. The oldest part of the village is called "Toracco"; it is ringed by boundaries, with narrow alleys and high houses, with archivolts and porticoes. Along the road that connects the old village with the entry to the famous Caves, we meet the monumental remains of the old Charterhouse, founded in 1495 and amply altered in the Baroque age. Following an old mule track you reach the old San Pietro ai Monti in Varatella abbey, built at the behest of Charlemagne on a previous church founded, according to the tradition, by St. Peter.