Page 122 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italian Riviera

120  THE IT ALIAN RIVIER A AREA B Y AREA

Galleria Rizzi has paintings, Charming to look at, the multi-
sculptures, ceramics and furniture coloured façades are supported
collected by the local Rizzi family. by arches and porticoes. The
The paintings include works by 16th-century Borgo Nuovo,
Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari and which grew up alongside it,
Alessandro Magnasco. features aristocratic palazzi
dating from the 16th to 19th
E Galleria Rizzi centuries, which was a long,
Via dei Cappuccini 4. Tel 0185 413 00. affluent period for the town.
Open Apr–Oct: 10:30am–1pm Sun; Nearby, crossed by a medieval
May–Sep: 4–7pm Wed (mid-Jun–Sep: bridge, is the River Crovana. This
9:30–11:30pm Fri, Sat). & is one of the tributaries of the
Vara, whose valley, the Val di
Vara, extends for more than
w Varese Ligure 60 km (37 miles) and has a
varied landscape, among the
La Spezia. Road Map E4. * 2,500.
@ from Sestri Levante. n Via Portici best preserved in the region. The
Fishing boats on the Baia del Silenzio at 19, 0187 842 094 (in high season). upper reaches of the river flow
Sestri Levante ∑ comune.vareseligure.sp.it through wonderful mountain
scenery, among woods of beech
q Sestri Levante This pretty, inland summer and chestnut, interspersed by
resort was, for centuries, an meadows where cows and
Genoa. Road Map E4. * 19,000.
V @ n Piazza Sant’Antonio 10, important market town and horses graze. Elsewhere there
0185 457 011. _ Premio Letterario stopping place on the route are scenic stretches where the
per la Fiaba Hans Christian Andersen north to Parma, in Emilia- river is confined between rocks.
(end May). Open 9am–1pm, 2–5pm Romagna. After the decline in Towards the coast the valley
Mon–Sat. ∑ turismoinliguria.it traffic across the mountains widens and the river flows
in the 19th century, the town through the Parco Naturale
At the far western point of the acquired the rural role it still Regionale di Montemarcello-
Golfo del Tigullio, Sestri Levante has today. Agriculture is the Magra (see p130).
is one of the liveliest resorts on main trade in this region.
the coast. The resort clusters Varese Ligure was a
around a rocky peninsula known possession of the Fieschi family, e Moneglia
as the “Isola”. In the heart of the who obtained it in fief from Genova. Road Map E4. * 2,700.
old town, the most interesting Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) V @ n Corso Longhi 32, 0185
monuments are the Basilica in 1161. They built the rather 490 576. _ Mostra-Mercato dell’Olio
di Santa Maria di Nazareth splendid 15th-century castle. d’Oliva (Easter Mon).
by Giovanni Battista Carlone This stands in a piazza which ∑ prolocomoneglia.it
(between 1604–16); the Palazzo was once the market square,
Durazzo Pallavicini (17th around which the so-called The town once known as
century), which is now the town Borgo Rotondo was built. Monilia faces a small gulf which
hall; and the lovely Romanesque Almost perfectly circular, with a interrupts the high, jagged
church of San Nicolò dell’Isola conti nuous screen of buildings, cliff extending between Sestri
(12th century). this ring of shops and houses Levante and Deiva Marina.
Of much greater appeal, around the market was an Moneglia is a typical fishing
however, is the wonderful Grand ingenious defensive idea town, with picturesque carruggi
Hotel dei Castelli, at the tip of dreamed up by the Fieschis. and slate roofs, and a thoroughly
the penin sula. Built in the 1920s
on the site of an old castle, the
hotel has a magnifi cent park
over looking two bays: the sandy
Baia delle Favole, named after
Hans Christian Andersen, who
stayed here in 1833 (favole
means fairy tales), is now rather
built up; but the smaller and
more secluded Baia del Silenzio,
framed by multi coloured
houses and dotted with fishing
boats, is utterly charming.
Also in the grounds is the
tower where Marconi carried out
some of his radio experi ments in
1934. Back in the old town, the The unusual Borgo Rotondo in Varese Ligure
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp181–2 and pp191–4

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