About Wandering Liguria

by James Martin

Wandering Liguria: Celebrating the food, wine, culture, history and lifestyle of the region that hosts the Italian Riviera.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Liguria and the Italian Riviera: Cinque Terre, Portofino, Genoa, Sanremo, Chiavari… the food, the wine, the markets, the hiking and trekking, the culture, history and lifestyle of this gorgeous part of Italy today.

Wandering Liguria is part of the Wandering network, headed by Wandering Italy.

The purpose of Wandering Liguria from author David Downie: “To familiarize a wider public with a region I have known and loved since I first visited in 1976.”

David offers hiking and trekking tours, guided cultural tours of Genoa and elsewhere. His latest book is a murder mystery set in Liguria, called Red Riviera: A Daria Vinci Investigation.

Do You Know the Cathedral of Genoa?

Likely not, because it’s not interesting at all. Just a church that took a long time to build. It’s got a dog sculpture on the façade. Why don’t you go exploring Genoa, the City of Art, Culture and Great Food, as well as the home of Columbus?

cattedrale di San Lorenzo — Cattedrale di San Lorenzo: Gothic-Romanesque

About Wandering Liguria originally appeared on WanderingLiguria.com Sep 23, 2011, updated: Jul 26, 2023 © James Martin

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Filling the bottom of the Nervia Valley Dolceacqua was the fiefdom and birthplace of the powerful Doria clan.

A medieval stone footbridge arches over the Nervia River, which is more a creek clogged with boulders than the rushing river I’d expected from the tourist brochures—and from umpteen photos and paintings, including a famous one by the Impressionist Claude Monet.

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Genoa Province Map

If you like seaside cities and villages, the Genoa province of Liguria is the place to be.

La Spezia Province Map

In many ways, La Spezia province is the most compelling of Liguria’s four provinces. Here you’ll find the vaunted villages of Le Cinque Terre (shown in red on the map), the romantic Gulf of Poets, and one of my favorite haunts, the Bocca di Magra, the mouth of the Magra river as it empties into the Ligurian Sea near the marble mountains behind Massa and Carrara.

The “Rock Villages” of Western Liguria Part One

Known primarily for its fishing and resort villages such as the Cinque Terre and Portofino, the “Riviera” leaves out of its name the pleated, mountainous interior of the Liguria region. It covers nine-tenths of Liguria’s territory. There are no casinos or luxury yacht marinas here: this is a vertical landscape abounding in unsung secret spots: leafy valleys, Apennine nature reserves of astonishing beauty and dozens of perched villages such as Perinaldo, Baiardo and Apricale.