leaning tower of pizza genoa beach italy

The bay is empty and silent and the bell tower is black against the navy sky. All of these places can be reached by commercial tour boat from the harbor in Lerici.It’s dusk. To the northwest, at the top of the bay, lies La Spezia, a port city, transportation hub, and the jumping off place for visits to the Cinque Terre. I can’t wait to see what she created!Īcross the bay from Lerici lies Portovenere with its stunning sea views and charming little village.

On the day I visited, my favorite local artist from Lucca, Kat (Katarina) Ring, just happened to be painting on the promenade along the harbor. A favorite spot for painters, it is common to see easels set up along the bay with artists painting away. It could just as easily have been called the Bay of Artists. Lerici sits at the southeastern edge of the Gulf of Poets ( Golfo dei Poeti in Italian), so named for the famous poets who spent time there (think Byron, Mary and Percy Shelly, DH Lawrence). Lerici is blessed with an embarrassment of riches. My “welcome summer” day trip destination was Lerici, in the Italian region of Liguria, about an hour by car from where I live in Lucca.

Genoa is an easy day trip too, just 23 miles away. Rapallo also has a very convenient train station with quick connections to Santa Margarita and Camogli. In the summer all of these are connected by the Tigullio Ferry System, a fun way to travel around the area. Rapallo makes a great base for exploring the whole peninsula, including the towns of Santa Margarita Ligure, Camogli, and Portofino as well as the more rugged areas (great for hikers) around the Abbey at San Fruttuoso. And while I picked the two towns in which we based, I pretty much let the activities be driven by my grandkids who, at ages 17 and 13, had some pretty specific requests - boats, beaches, one big city adventure, a little shopping, and lots of gelato.įirst stop: Rapallo and an Airbnb apartment a block from the sea and just steps from lively restaurants, bars, and shops. The return visit was to Levanto, a special request from my grandkids who fell in love with this laid back seaside town on their first visit to Italy several years ago.

The new place was the Portofino Peninsula. My June vacation met both of those criteria. I always think that the best vacations combine someplace new with a much loved place from a previous trip.

Leaning tower of pizza genoa beach italy