Smart Guide Italy: Genova and Liguria: Smart Guide Italy, #8

By Alexei Cohen

Smart Guide Italy is the only digital travel guide that covers all of Italy's regions and is written, researched, and investigated by full-time residents. Each title in the series provides insights to the most important monuments and practical information for eating, drinking, sleeping and having a good time in Italy. With Smart Guide Italy travellers can focus entirely on the city and region they want to visit.

Smart Guide also operates a convenient online accommodation service which helps visitors get an insider's perspective on Italy, lower their CO2 impact and save.

Other titles in the Smart Guide Italy series include:
Rome and Lazio
Florence and Tuscany
Venice and Veneto
Milan and Lombardy
Naples and Campania
Turin, Piedmont and Aosta Valley
Grand Tour: Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexei Cohen
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476072012

Alexei Cohen

I fell in love with Italy while watching the movie La Strada in the basement of my university library. Since then I have met and married an Italian, written and edited several guides and enjoyed a lot of pasta, wine and gelato. I live with my family on the outskirts of Rome and cultivate my passion for Italy a little more everyday. Moon Rome, Florence & Venice is my latest book and a result of months of exploration. I look forward to sharing what I have discovered and meeting travelers in Rome to swap stories over a cappuccino.

Book preview

Smart Guide Italy: Genova and Liguria

Published by Smart Guides

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Alexei Cohen

Discover other titles in the Smart Guide series:

Rome and Lazio

Florence and Tuscany

Venice and Veneto

Milan and Lombardy

Naples and Campania

Turin, Piedmont and Aosta Valley

Grand Tour: Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Smart Accommodation:

Smart Guide has teamed up with over 5,000 bed and & breakfasts, self-catering apartments and small hotels in order to provide travelers with convenient, reasonably priced accommodation in the best locations throughout Italy. To view all our accommodation options visit our website and choose the one that’s right for you. Enjoy the journey!

Smart Answers:

Travel requires making choices. If you have any questions regarding your trip to Italy write to us and we will get back to you within 24 hours. If you have any comments or suggestions that will help improve future editions we’d love to hear them.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Introducing Liguria

Planning Your Stay

Top Stops

GENOVA

Sights

Entertainment & Events

Shopping

Sports & Recreation

Food

Accommodations

Information & Services

Getting There & Around

RIVIERA DI LEVANTE

Rapallo

Portofino

Cinque Terre

Portovenere

Lerici

RIVIERA DI PONENTE

Savona

Noli

Albenga

Alassio

Cervo

Taggia

Sanremo

Dolceacqua

FOREWORD

Dear Traveler,

Smart Guide was created to assist you throughout your travels as well as lighten your load. It balances historical insights about Liguria’s major monuments with practical information about food, entertainment, accommodations and events. It is meant to indulge your senses and help you see, smell, and taste this unique region in unexpected ways whether you are headed for Cinque Terre or Genova Aquarium.

Liguria, unlike some regions in Italy, is ideal for travelers. Not only does its shape make seeing it all nearly possible but it’s location between the Ligurian Sea and the Apennines offers something for everyone. There are wonderful places to hike, swim and enjoy the famous local pesto all along the coast. Getting around is relatively simply and most of the towns are easy to reach by rail or road.

If you haven’t already reserved a place to stay have a look at our accommodation options. Smart Guide provides over 30 convenient bed & breakfast, farmhouse and small hotel offers throughout Liguria.

Enjoy the journey!

Alexei Cohen

Series Editor

INTRODUCING LIGURIA

Liguria owes its character to its location. Rough Apennine Mountains in the north and the Ligurian Sea to the south border this thin boomerang-shaped region. It is commonly known as the Italian Riviera, a place where former aristocrats came to enjoy the warm sunny climate and where the maritime trade played a decisive role in the region’s history.

Given the lack of space, most of the towns are of the small fishing village variety, where the pace of life is decidedly leisurely and beaches plentiful. The Cinque Terre offers a good taste of these and walking along the coastal paths provides an endless series of spectacular views interrupted only by pastel-color houses and family-run restaurants that haven’t changed their menus in years.

The only major city is Genova, which lies in the center of the region and is famous for a certain explorer who mistakenly discovered America. But there’s more to Genova, as any visitor who embarks on a walk through the old town or spends an afternoon in the revitalized port soon discovers. Palazzi along Via Balbi and Via Garibaldi are filled with some of the finest collections of paintings and sculptures in Northern Italy. The old port is less rough than it once was and the aquarium and other attractions now bring great numbers of visitors to the area.

The two stretches of coast from Genova each have their own unique personality. The western half, known as Riviera Ponente, extends all the way to the French border and consists of a nearly unbroken beachfront where holidaymakers flock to in the summer. On the eastern side is the Riviera Levante, which has a rocky coastline and where fishing villages like Portofino have become a breeding place for millionaires.

Location is also responsible for the consistently mild climate; winters here are warmer than other regions in the north. Late spring and early autumn are good times to visit as the sea is still warm enough for a swim and the delicacies produced from the terraced hillsides and gathered in the forests are at their peak. Winter temperatures hover around 7–10°C degrees while summers are not as scorching as they can be farther south, averaging 25–28°C degrees.

There are 17 protected areas in the region, including Parco Naturale di Portofino, where cars are the endangered species and must give way to pedestrians. Here regattas are organized nearly every weekend in the summer and water sports thrive. If you prefer your exercise on land, there’s no shortage of trails that can be taken on foot, bike, or horseback.

Any appetite that builds up will be easily satisfied, thanks to local specialties like pesto and many types of ravioli stuffed with local herbs and spices grown on the hillsides. Fish is plentiful and there are endless variations of recipes; in Portovenere they like to grill while in Sanremo the fish salad is served cold and washed down with Ligurian Vermentino.

History

Humans have called Liguria home for a long time and traces of Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon remains have been discovered in the caves of Balzi Rossi. It was the Liguri, however, who first seriously populated the area and those who sided with the Romans during the Punic wars became part of the 10th region known as Liguria that extended all the way to the Po River.

Around this time, the Aurelia and Augusta roads were built, which helped increase commerce and reinforced the unity of the territory. Along the coast, the towns of Albenga, Ventimiglia, and Luni developed into major centers of trade and were later dominated by the Byzantines, Longobardi, and Franks who filled the vacuum left after the decline of Rome.

Genova began to dominate the area in the 10th century and, once the threat of Saracen pirates was eliminated, the town grew in importance largely due to spice trade with the Middle East. The city’s navy played a major role in the first crusade and between the 12th and