Rapallo: A Giant Outdoor Chessboard [1443]
Rapallo is a handsome seaside town set in a series of curving bays. It’s backed by the 1,900-foot-tall Montallegro, a mountain refuge with a historically important and also stunningly beautiful Baroque sanctuary.
Rapallo was among the Italian Riviera’s first tourist resorts. Early on it drew European and Russian aristocrats and American nouveaux riches. Frederich Nietzsche wrote the bulk of his masterpiece Thus Spake Zarathustra while staying in Rapallo and visiting Montallegro, among other nearby sites.
Dolceacqua: Sweet water, superb wine and Monet [3599]
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.
Rapallo: Great ice cream, specialty foods, and wine [3272]
A sophisticated Italian Riviera resort, Rapallo is also home to some of Liguria’s best artisan ice cream. At my personal favorite, Gelateria Frigidarium, (Lungomare Vittorio Veneto 4, Tel: 0185 50044; daily in high season 10am to midnight; in winter closed on Wednesdays), you’ll find all the Italian and Ligurian classics, plus seasonal specials and only-in-Rapallo house specialties.
Hidden Liguria: Chiavari [5990]
Is Chiavari the most underrated city along the Italian Riviera? I’m almost certain of it.
Portofino Travel Guide [3036]
Portofino is where you take your Ferrari, even if it is rented, to gaze at the yachts in the harbor and far neinte with a drink in your hands at a bar along the water’s edge.
The Tonnara of Camogli and Punta Chiappa [1972]
The last working tonnara fishing net in the northern Mediterranean is anchored between the seaside resort of Camogli and the Punta Chiappa headland a few miles south. Punta Chiappa –pronounced “kyahp-pah” is a tongue of solid stone that juts several hundred yards into the Mediterranean.
Hi James:
You also know you’re in Liguria when you get pesto sauce and not pomodoro.
— Joe Palisi · Sep 22, 03:49 PM · #