La Spezia

The main center of the Gulf is the city of La Spezia, the provincial capital, located in the innermost part of the deep Gulf of the same name which opens into the eastern coast of the Eastern Riviera.
Today the city is being re-evaluated with the renovation of its central village: Via Prione, the Poggio, Piazza S.Agostino, Piazza di Corte (the current Piazza Beverini) and the surrounding streets with their prestigious buildings, recall its history since 1343, when it became the mayor's office.
We recommend that tourists who arrive in the city today visit the "gulf"; they will undoubtedly be dazzled by these immeasurable beauties, which the great poet from La Spezia, Ubaldo Mazzini, defined in his poetry as follows: "A gulf so beautiful 'amia".
The characteristic villages that rise in front of the sea in combination with the jagged inlets and the typical Mediterranean vegetation, constitute a unique landscape of its kind.



The other centers, of notable tourist and environmental interest, are Lerici, located in the easternmost part of the gulf, with its ancient Castle and the seaside promenade that connects it to San Terenzo, and Porto Venere located at the opposite end. Lerici is a small seaside town, with numerous corners to visit and frequent for an intense day at the seaside. From Lerici you can reach other centers of great tourist interest, such as Maralunga, Fiascherino and Tellaro along the coast, and Monte Marcello and La Serra on the mountain.

On the other side of the Gulf, going towards Portovenere you can divert towards Campiglia. An intermediate point between the territory that extends from Monte Muzzerone and the Schiara area, it is an important transit point as it is crossed by the panoramic path N°1, which connects Monterosso with Portovenere.


In Porto Venere, in addition to the classic visit to the Church of San Pietro, built on the Arpaia promontory between the 4th and 5th centuries on the remains of a pre-existing pagan temple, the Church of San Lorenzo, the House of the Doria, and the Castle, whose construction began in 1161 and completed in the 16th century. Beautiful and evocative, Portovenere offers the possibility of experiencing the sea through the numerous companies that deal with boat rental or organizing personalized trips. In the village of Le Grazie an interesting visit can be made to the remains of the Roman villa of Varignano built between 80 and 85 BC.

In front of Porto Venere, separated by an arm of the sea called "Le Bocche", Palmaria Island stands out and is now a regional natural park. Easily reachable by ferries departing from the main landing places of the Gulf, it offers tourists the possibility of wonderful walks among the evidence of the military presence on the island (the old prisons, the school tower, the bunkers), corners of remains dating back to the Paleolithic, and panoramic stretches from which you can see the Tino, Lerici, Tellaro, Montemarcello and the Apuan Alps. In addition to hiking, the main reason for visiting the island is the possibility of swimming in a clear and clean sea.

Also of certain tourist interest are: the Tinetto rock and the Tino island, separated from the Palmaria island by a narrow canal, on the top of which stands the lighthouse which indicates to sailors the approach of the Gulf. It is possible to descend on the soil of this island only on the occasion of the feast of S. Venerio, who lived the last years of his life here, in a hermit until his death in 630.


The Cinque Terre, overlooking the Ligurian Sea between Punta Montenero and Punta Mesco, are today famous throughout the world for their charm, due to many elements that come together in a unique synthesis. Five fishing villages suspended between land and sea, where time seems to have stopped.