But in 1860 the annexation Nice and the adjoining territory to France brought the political frontier farther east, to a point between Mentone and Ventimiglia which constitutes no natural limit.
The most considerable of them are—the Roja, which rises in the Col di Tenda and descends to Ventimiglia; the Taggia, between San Remo and Oneglia; and the Centa, which enters the sea at Albenga.
The only effort at proselytizing of which we have record came to an untimely end in the death of the Theatine monk, Antonio Ventimiglia, who had been its originator.
One is that the central bit of the Roja valley is French, while the upper and lower bits of this valley are Italian; the reason is that those bits which are now Italian formed part of the county of Ventimiglia, and the central bit part of the county of Nice, which alone became French in 1860.
The result is that the Italians are now unable to build a railway from Cuneo by the Col de Tenda and down the Roja valley direct to Ventimiglia.