Liguria is a narrow stretch of land occupying the upper western coast of Italy between the Ligurian Sea and the meeting-point of the Alps and Apennines. Its beaches and coastal rocks are world-famous; although the hinterland is less well-known, the limited space conceded by a mountain area that almost stretches right down to the sea is a place of great interest that holds some true natural and cultural treasures.
Territory
The territory covers an area of 5500 square kilometers and
takes in the 315 kilometers of the Ligurian Gulf; two-thirds of the hinterland
is occupied by mountains that exceed an altitude of one thousand meters, while
the rest is made up of hills. Alluvial plains account for only 1% of the
territory.
With this wide geographical variety, Liguria is a land that you need to take
your time to enjoy. Besides the internationally famous tourist resorts, there
are many little-known ones that are really worth visiting. The region has
excellent rail and motorway links since it is an integral part of the
communications network connecting northern Italy with central Italy and Italy
with Europe. However, drivers who are not in a hurry will find the less busy
trunk and provincial roads an interesting alternative to the motorways, for
these can offer you some fine panoramic views as well as the chance to get to
know the territory by following less traditional itineraries.
The vegetation of the region is extremely varied and has many endemic forms that
are well protected in the parks and numerous nature reserves throughout the
region.
The coastline and hillsides as far as the divide are exposed to the sun: Liguria
therefore enjoys a typically mild and pleasant Mediterranean climate, with
annual minimum and maximum temperatures differing by about 15 degrees, average
winter temperatures of 10 degrees and summer periods freshened by the sea
breezes with an average temperature of 24 degrees.
It was because of its particularly mild climate that Liguria became the most
popular Italian holiday resort with European tourists in the mid-nineteenth
century. The few well-to-do English families who began this trend have gradually
been followed by hosts of tourists from all over the world, as is shown by the
latest surveys on tourist flow in Liguria.
The very names of Ligurian coastal resorts contain
fantastical and very evocative elements: Golfo dei Poeti (Bay of Poets), Cinque
Terre, Baia delle Favole (Bay of Wonders), Golfo del Tigullio, Golfo Paradiso,
Baia del Sole (Bay of the Sun), Baia dei Saraceni (Saracens' Bay), Riviera delle
Palme (Riviera of Palms) and Riviera dei Fiori (Riviera of Flowers). It is the
very variety of the Ligurian coast, its resorts that are famous worldwide for
their numerous attractions and the clearness of the water that have inspired
such exotic names.
The geographical features of the coastline are very varied, with alternating
coastal rocks and beaches composed of pebbles and sand; in certain areas, small
islands can be seen not far off the coast. These are ideal places for diving
enthusiasts, who will find the Ligurian underwater environment a place of great
interest.
The colored façades occasionally embellished with friezes, the slate coverings
(for roofs and more exposed walls) meant that sailors could distinguish their
own particular homes when they were still several miles away from the coast:
these are all characteristic and unmistakable features in many Riviera towns
even today - such as Camogli and Portofino, for instance.
The Mediterranean maquis and the pine woods are the typical vegetation you will
come across on the long stretches of coast between one town and another. The
cliffs that are still intact are areas where there is a greater variety of
species, such as marine cineraria, wallflowers, Capo Noli bellflowers, euphorbia
bushes, agaves, pithosporus, prickly pears and Aleppo pines, as well as shrubs
and herbs such as thyme, prickly euphorbia, wild lavender, narcissi, asphodels,
cysts, gorse, lentisk, myrtle and wild strawberry trees. There are various types
of pine woods, depending on the local variety of pine: thanks to its
adaptability the cluster pine grows even on arid ground, especially in the
undergrowth of the Mediterranean maquis.
Marine parks have been created in the Cinque Terre, Portofino, Bergeggi and
Gallinara, together with other marine reserves. Among these is the Whale
Sanctuary, a vast stretch of sea lying between the two extreme eastern and
western points and the northern tip of Corsica. One of the points of major
interest here is off the coast of the Western Riviera: the Ligurian Sea has
become a favourite haunt of sperm whales, Clymene dolphins, Rissòs dolphins,
pilot whales, rough-toothed dolphins, Cuvier's whales and bottle-nosed dolphins,
which are all now regularly sighted off the land that the Romans used to call
the Whale Coast.
The marine vocation of the whole region in the past few years has found an
exceptional focal point in Genoa Aquarium, which not only offers teaching and
leisure-time activities but is also involved in scientific research on the
marine environment and has laboratories with highly specialized personnel.
The sea bed of the deep Ligurian Sea is marked by sections of emerged volcanic
land: the rocky coastline continues beneath the surface with very steep slopes
plummeting down to a maximum depth of 2000 meters. The rocky environments are
the habitat of white bream, saddled bream, wrasses and scorpion fish, while in
the sandy areas you will find sole, mullet and sea perch and an abundance of sea
shells.
The presence of numerous marine species has led the governments of Italy, France
and Monaco to sign an agreement for the creation of the first International
Whale Sanctuary, which comprises the sea area between Cape Corsica, La Spezia
and the Cote d'Azur. There are currently eight species of whale to be found in
these waters, including the fin whale, the sperm whale, the pilot whale and the
bottle-nose dolphin.
The few islands off the Ligurian coast have retained their uncontaminated
environment and are also of great interest from a geological point of view.
Gallinara and Bergeggi form part of the regional network of parks and protected
areas and have officially been declared nature reserves.
According to the Roman historians Strabo and Cato, the island of Gallinara
derives its name from the hens ("galline") that lived there. It lies in front of
the coast of Albenga. Between the fourth and fifth centuries, the Benedictines
built a monastery and a small cemetery on the island, while the fifteenth
century saw the construction of a circular tower on the summit of the island
which is visible from both land and sea.
Bergeggi is private property and not generally open to visitors: this has
encouraged the growth of very rare species, such as the Savonese bell flower,
and others that are typical of environments very unlike the Mediterranean, such
as the euphorbia bush, which forms part of a group usually found growing in the
Canary Islands and the Azores.
The islands of Palmaria and Tino and the islet of Tinetto lie off the coast of
Portovenere in eastern Liguria.
Palmaria is interesting because of its grottoes, which include the Azzurra
Grotto, which can only be accessed from the sea, and the Colombo Grotto, which
was inhabited in prehistoric times. The island of Tino still has the ruins of
the abbey where Saint Venerio lived as a hermit. Traces of a fourth-century
monastic settlement can also be seen on Tinetto.
If you observe the coast when you are out at sea, you can
admire the alternation of impressive cliffs with small bays that are almost
inaccessible by land, beaches with pebbles, some of them perfectly oval in
shape, as on the beach at Balzi Rossi, and beautiful sandy beaches - for
example, at Pietra Ligure and the Baia dei Saraceni near Varigotti.
If you imagine yourself flying over the Ligurian coastline, beginning at Ponte
San Ludovico on the French border, you would see alternating sand and pebble
beaches that cannot be seen from dry land because of the many rocks that
separate them: Spotorno, Pietra Ligure, Noli, Albenga, Alassio, Finale Loano,
Andora, Laigueglia, Bergeggi, Celle Ligure, Santa Margherita Ligure, Sestri
Levante, Moneglia, Deiva and Levanto as far as the small beaches in the Cinque
Terre set among the inlets at the foot of steep cliffs.
The coast of Liguria extends in the shape of an arc for 450 kilometers. The
presence of the Maritime Alps and the Apennines immediately behind the coast
gives it a high rugged shape that is frequently broken by promontories and
inlets.
To the west, where the river mouths are situated, steep rock faces alternate
with beaches that are longer and wider than those on the Eastern Riviera.
Some of the promontories jut out into the sea and can be seen from a distance;
these characterize the landscape when seen from those high hinterland areas that
are close to the sea: from west to east, the view from the best panoramic points
gives you a good view of the various promontories along the coast.
Capo di Sant'Ampelio, close to the older part of Bordighera, separates the
coasts of Ventimiglia and Sanremo, which is closed to the east by Capo Verde, or
Punta d'Arma. Immediately to the east of Capo Cervo, which marks the boundary
between Imperia and Savona, stands Capo Mele, which separates Andora from
Laigueglia. The alluvial plain of Albenga stretches out towards the sea with the
estuary of the River Centa, which lies between straight pieces of coastline that
are broken by the coastal rocks of the Finale area: Punta della Caprazoppa,
Varigotti and Malpasso.
Noli, Spotorno and Bergeggi are situated between Capo Noli and Capo Vado on the
high coastline opposite the island of Bergeggi itself. Further east, the coast
sweeps inwards to make room for Savona and the wide Gulf of Genoa. From Nervi
onwards the coastline is prevalently rocky. The straight line of the coast is
broken by the promontory of Portofino, which stretches out into the sea from
Punta Chiappa to Punta del Capo di Portofino. The Golfo del Tigullio begins
beyond this point. Then comes the linear beaches of Chiavari and Lavagna, which
are interrupted by the "island" of Sestri Levante, which is actually joined by
an isthmus to the mainland.
Between Manara and Punta Baffe, the coast rapidly rises because of the presence
of rock faces that sweep down from Monte Bracco, which dominates the landscape,
and these are then broken by the bay of Moneglia and other inlets as far as
Levanto. Beyond Punta del Mesco, the rocky coastline of the Cinque Terre begins.
This is broken by the bay of Vernazza and some small beach inlets as far as San
Pietro at Portovenere. The Bay of La Spezia is wide and has a number of inlets.
It is closed to the east by the promontory of Caprione, beyond which lies the
estuary of the River Magra.