Liguria

As northwest Italy curves round the coastline in a backwards arch, the region of Liguria is revealed, backed by the dominating presence of the Alps and the Apennines, running down to a rocky coastline with sculpted bays, stylish beach towns, World Heritage Sites and traditional way of life, played out on the shimmering Ligurian Sea. 

Known as the Italian Riviera, the region is varied with pockets of developments around its capital, the port city of Genoa with its impressive Romanesque Cathedral of San Lorenzo. Genoa is where American writer Henry James and Charles Dickens spent time, and the city lays claim to being the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. Claude Monet was drawn to the challenge of painting in the dreamy southern light of Liguria, the 19th-century British wanderers had a habit of wintering in Liguria by the sea and the Gulf of La Spezia became the Gulf of Poets because of the high praise which came from the ‘romantics’ Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and her husband Percy and later D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf all resided here. 

Perhaps Liguria’s most famous sight is the pastel-hued cliff houses of Cinque Terre and its five villages - Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore and towards Genoa, slick Portofino which is often the beeline for many an affluent traveller heading for the delights of the Italian Riviera. Dramatic scenes greet you at the Cinque Terre World Heritage Site and national park, and to gain some perspective, you can walk the cliff pathways through medieval hamlets and hilltop villages to the Monte di Portofino. West of Genoa, fishing villages cluster around the hilly backdrops and a collection of authentic settlements Alassio, Albenga, Noli, Finale Ligure and Laigueglia (the latter home to Hotel Windsor) are peaceful hideaways with colourful seaside houses, favoured by holidaying Italians. Slow, authentic life reigns here - an antidote to the glitz of Portofino and the Cinque Terre.