Places of interest

Placed in the middle of the eastern Ligurian Riviera, the Tigullio Gulf extends from the Portofino point to Manara Cape, and on its sea face highly tourist vocation towns like Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure and Sestri Levante, the little jewels Zoagli and Riva Trigoso and centres full of history like Chiavari and Lavagna. And what you can say about Portofino, famous all over the world and exclusive international touristic destination!

The mild weather, a blue sea where multicolored facades of the seafaring villages are mirrored, the Natural Park of Portofino with its famous San Fruttuoso Abbey and a close network of paths for the trekking lovers, are only some of the characteristics that make really incomparable this corner of Liguria (look at Line 1 and Tour n°2).

But from the Tigullio Gulf you can easily reach the inland valleys as well, where the large and often unexpected views of a surprising landscape represents the place where a millenarian peasant culture has developed and they give the opportunity to taste the most typical traditional dishes in the local little restaurants , so that a tasty and stimulating gastronomical challenge is created with the most famous restaurants by the sea.

A common choice of the people who visits our region is staying in the Tigullio area as well to devote at least one day to the history, the museums and the monuments of Genoa – the ancient Maritime Republic known as “The Superb” – that nowadays combine to the cultural tourism the call of its most recent touristic attractions like theAquarium and the Ancient Port Area. (look at tour n°6).
Furthermore the Tigullio Area is even the ideal access gate to live the big emotions of an excursion to the Cinque Terre! Raise the hands who has never heard of “the Love Street” and of the five famous villages grasped at the rocks in an environment really unique, so much as to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage”in 1997 (look at tour n° 3, n°4, n°5, n°7).
So… why not living the emotion of a Cinque Terre tour on one of our boats?

Discover the Gulf of Tigullio, the territorial area which is part of the Province of Genoa and includes the territories of San Fruttuoso, Portofino, Santa Margherita Ligure, Rapallo, Chiavari,...

Left the Tigullio Gulf the boat go across the Riva Trigoso bay, famous for its shipyards,
and doubled the charming Point Baffe it reaches Moneglia, native town of the painter Luca Cambiaso.
Getting into La Spezia County, you see Deiva Marina, medieval village and Framura, whose hamlets lie down on a wide natural amphitheatre sloping down the sea.

After Bonassola, village with deep maritime traditions, you sail towards the Promontory of Mesco passing off Levanto,
big center surrounded by old hamlets full of history and monuments.

Gone beyond Point Mesco, till Cape Montenero, extends a broad gulf onto face the tiny villages MONTEROSSO, VERNAZZA, CORNIGLIA, MANAROLA, RIOMAGGIORE known as the Cinque Terre since 1448.
They are five villages by the sea, set on the rocks in an environment that man has shaped over the centuries,
by building dry-stone walls and terraced grounds on which the vite has grown all the time.
Stone and salinity, wind and sun are the secrets of the Cinque Terre wine and of the rare and precious Sciacchetrà,
produced by letting wither the best grapes of the nicest gathered bunches.
The Cinque Terre are one of the greenest and most extended Mediterranean areas in Liguria, a kingdom of nature and marvelous scents.
Visiting those means seeing five villages suspended between land and sea, grasped on sheer cliffs and surrounded by green hills.

The La Spezia Gulf is a deep creek that extends from Portovenere to Punta Bianca, a mix of colors with an infinity of nuances where the sky
and the sea seem to fuse to exalt now the silvery grey of the cliffs, now the emerald green of a vegetation that is mirrored in the sea.
Getting to it from the sea means taking an unique view at a glance, with the magnificent Apuane Alps that rise behind the nearby Versilian coastline.
In the Eastern part of the Gulf you find villages such as Tellaro, charming and colored, and bigger towns like Lerici,
gathered round a little bay closed by a rocky promontory a massive castle stands on.

In the next one San Lorenzo stayed in 1822, the English romantic poet Perey B. Shelley with the brilliant wife Mary (the author of “Frankestein”),
enjoying the frequent company of Lord Byron and of the extraordinary beauty of the scenes.
Thanks to these and other famous guests arrived at its shores, the La Spezia Gulf has become the Poets’ Gulf,
name that suits the graceful and original landscape of this far strip of the Eastern Riviera.

There was a time when Genoa was called “The Superb” and lots were the ships that bravely ploughed the waves to reach its several thriving colonies overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
In the 18th century Genoa became a compulsory destination for the European travellers, who were enchanted by its buildings, architecture and wealth.
During the 20th century Genoa progressively lost its tourist connotation till getting an industrial city with an important trade port, where tourists were obliged to land to reach the Rivieras.
On the occasion of the Expo Colombiana in 1992, when was celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America, a firm turnabout started, and Genoa became little by little conscious of its tourist potentials and of its touristic vocation, so long kept soothed.

Packed between the mountains and the sea and dominated by the Lantern, Genoa is a complex and marvellous city, where deeply different realities interlace and overlap, by forming a skein that the tourist must have the firmness to disentangle.
Genoa is made up of churches, museums, luxury palaces, monuments and history.
Genoa is “creuze”, open sea horizons, sudden foreshortened views… and frames of mind as well.

Genoa is unique! It’s worth discovering it going through its alleys that get down from the hills of Castelletto (where you can enjoy a splendid panoramic view over the city) till the Ancient Port, where in the pre-Roman times the harbour was born and the first settlings rose.

Nowadays a sunny square over the sea, the Ancient Port of Genoa, planned by the architect Renzo Piano, holds the Bigo, a kind of antique-modern lift, the Cotton Stores, now an important Congress Centre, the famous Aquarium and the Sea Museum Galata.
The historical centre of Genoa is one of the biggest in Europe (it’s 400.000 m2 wide), characterized, in the oldest section, by a labyrinth of little squares and narrow “caruggi” (alleys).

It joints a medieval look with sixteenth-century and Baroque works (S. Matthew’s Square and the ancient Aurea Street, now Garibaldi Street, built in 1550 to reach and connect the luxury palaces of the powerful Genoese oligarchy).

Ruins of the old seventeen-century walls are visible next to S. Lawrence’s Cathedral.
City symbols are the Lantern (117m high), visible till a distance of 30 kilometres from the sea, the monumental De Ferrari’s Square Fountain, the ancient seafaring quarter of Boccadasse, full of multicoloured boats, end of an elegant promenade facing the sea and the Albaro beaches, and famous for its ice-creams.

Just out of the city centre, but still a part of the 33km long shore of the municipal area, are Nervi, natural entrance door to the Eastern Riviera and Pegli, natural entrance door to the Western Riviera.