Lerici,
The pearl of The Poets' Gulf
Lerici, a seaside town, is a pearl of the Liguria region, nestled between the Cinque Terre and Versilia. Here the Gulf of Poets was born, one of the most evocative corners of all Liguria. Tellaro, one of its hamlets, is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
The all year round mild climate and the beauty of the surrounding hills, make Lerici the ideal destination for all those in search of tranquillity, relaxation, contact with nature or the sea, offering complete and unique possibilities to sports, entertainment and culture enthusiasts as well. Lerici not only offers striking landscapes, breathtaking sunsets and crystal-clear water in which to dive, but also an ideal and special setting for the most active and exigent tourism. The wealth of natural sites, the rich historical and cultural heritage and its gastronomy make available a wide variety of ways to discover Lerici in an active and adventurous way.
San Terenzo
San Terenzo seems to be a timeless place, whose essence has remained unchanged, and which has managed to preserve the nuance of a typical seaside village. Founded as a fishing village and later becoming a refuge for artists and intellectuals, it manages to combine the sea, the wide beach and the multicoloured excitement of the unmistakable Ligurian houses into one. San Terenzo was chosen by many poets and writers to spend a few months or to live there forever. Intellectuals and artists have found inspiration, peace and focus here. The symbolic place of the passage of these artists is the Casa Magni, where in 1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary – the extraordinary creator of Frankenstein – lived a short but intense period of their lives. In 1892, it was the Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin who captured the pictorial emotions conveyed by the coast on canvas. In 1933, Virginia Woolf spent a few days in a hotel just a few steps away, recalling that stay in her diary. Between Lerici and San Terenzo is Villa Marigola, which has hosted illustrious personalities. One of the most important was the writer Sem Benelli, who coined the term “Gulf of Poets” on the occasion of the funeral oration dedicated to the anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza.
Tellaro,
one of the most beautiful villages in Italy
Tellaro has been part of the Club of the “Most Beautiful Villages in Italy” since 2004. The village has the characteristic features of a coastal town in the most authentic Liguria, with its church by the sea and a short walk that winds very narrowly between houses and cliffs. It is a true architectural jewel. Loved and frequented by writers and poets, such as D.H. Lawrence, Tomlinson, Mario Soldati who wrote: “… once upon a time, there was and still is today, the village of Tellaro. It is all built on the rocks of a promontory that juts out into the sea, at the foot of a large hill covered in olive groves”. And again: “… I love Tellaro for this very reason. It is a place that you can’t pass by. It is a destination. A bit like the end, one of the ends of the world. You just get there. There is an unmistakable sense of tranquillity and closure”. … He defined it: “a nirvana suspended between sea and sky, the cliffs and the green mountain.”
In Tellaro it is possible to take a journey back in time through a true masterpiece of urban planning and architecture, perfectly set in the landscape. The church of San Giorgio, with its characteristic pink colour, is located right by the sea, surrounded by houses in typical Ligurian colours, leaning against each other among the narrow “carruggi” (the alleyways typical of Liguria). Here, history and legend mingle and merge: the story tells of the rescue of Tellaro from a nocturnal attack by Saracen pirates, in the Middle Ages, by a giant octopus that awoke the population by ringing the church bells.
La Serra
The passing of the centuries has left the historic centre of Serra intact, with its narrow alleyways, steep staircases that climb up the hill and between the houses, preserving its authentic character and offering enchanting views of the coast. Just below the village is the hill of Verrazzano, an area where oil merchants lived for many centuries, known as the original home of the family from which the famous navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano descended.
The alleys of the village offer unforgettable views of the blue Mediterranean, as does the small square in front of the church of San Giovanni Battista Decollato, the real meeting point of the town: a panoramic terrace overlooking the blue.
The historic “Sagra da Lumaga” (Snail Festival), held at the end of August, on the occasion of the patron saint’s day of the town, Saint Zane, brings the famous snails to the table, cooked in stews according to an ancient Serra tradition.
In 1931, La Serra was the birthplace of Paolo Bertolani, a dialect poet who wrote in the “Serrese” dialect. Since 2008, the “Bertolani Prize”, established by the Association LericiPea, has been dedicated to him, and it is awarded every year to a poet whose work has distinguished itself for the valorisation of linguistic particularities and the promotion of culture and territorial identity. Like other hillside villages, La Serra di Lerici lies at the centre of very ancient mule tracks which, climbing up among olive trees and Mediterranean scrub, allow you to reach La Rocchetta, Tellaro, Montemarcello…or simply to descend towards the sea in the footsteps of those who travelled these steep paths every day to bring the wonderful products of the La Serra countryside to the port.
Pugliola
It is a small hamlet in the municipality of Lerici, clearly visible from the sea, with its typical colourful houses that stand out against the sea on a pleasant hillside. From the village, you can admire a vast and magnificent panorama that embraces the entire Gulf of Poets. Walking through the olive groves above Lerici and walking along the ancient “carruggi” (narrow streets), you can admire beautiful noble palaces and the church dedicated to Santa Lucia, with its Romanesque bell tower on which there are curious St. John’s crosses. Inside, the small tablets in Gothic script dating back to the 1300s are a reminder of the antiquity of this building which, at least until the fourteen century was the most important parish church of the area, on which the coastal places of worship also depended: it was called “S. Lucia de Ylice” (i.e. of Lerici).
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Pugliola is home to Villa Rezzola, an ancient stately home immersed in a large, terraced garden that slopes down to the sea. In 2020, Countess Pupa Carnevale Miniati bequeathed the Villa to the FAI (Human Environment Fund), for restoration and public enjoyment. Built in the eighteenth century on medieval remains of military origin, it was enlarged and modernised over the following two centuries, until it was purchased in 1900 by the English Cochrane family, who gave the building its
current appearance and its splendid English gardens overlooking the Gulf of Poets. The romantic atmosphere and the British style inside the Villa, allow visitors to find themselves immersed in another dimension, that of the intellectuals and the wealthy Anglo-Saxon bourgeoisie who used to meet in the Gulf of Lerici, in villas like this one, fascinated by the myth of Shelley and Byron. Today, there is a large Anglo-Saxon community in Lerici who carries on this tradition.
Solaro
Situated along the ancient military road that connects Lerici to La Spezia, Solaro in an ancient past could be reached only by paths and multiple mule tracks that connected the surrounding terrace fields. Surrounded by olive groves that slope down to the sea, today it looks like a small cluster of colourful, sun-kissed houses, but in ancient times it was a fortified village. Going down the path to San Terenzo, among ancient “carruggi” of typical Ligurian buildings, traces of the round turrets are still visible.
The origin of the name, form the Latin “Solarium”, could refer to a place always exposed to the sun, but, according to tradition, the village takes its name from the second bishop of the ancient Roman city of Luni: Solario, who was martyred on the hills overlooking San Terenzo in the fifth century, and later become San Solario, celebrated by the church of Luni on the 22nd of October.
Pozzuolo
Just above San Terenzo, Pozzuolo is a small village: a few houses and a church dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle, all nestled in a peculiar historical and natural context. A short walk from Pozzuolo is Baia Blu, a striking beach surrounded by maritime pines and Mediterranean scrub: sheltered from the winds and coastal storms, it is a true paradise, especially in the winter.
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The surrounding hills are dominated by the remains of nineteenth-century fortifications and gun batteries, built to protect the eastern side of the Gulf of La Spezia. The oldest, dating back to the eighteenth-century, is the gun battery of Santa Teresa, not far from Baia Blue: the upper part is being renovated while the lower part has been restored and houses the headquarters of the Scuola di Mare (Sea School).
Furthermore, the bay of Santa Teresa is home to the animal facility for the purification of the “muscoli spezzini” (La Spezia mussels), and is the subject of a very important environmental project, Smart Bay Santa Teresa, a natural laboratory for research, technology, sustainable tourism and mollusc farming, a model ecosystem to combat the effects of climate change created thanks to the collaboration between ENEA, CNR, INGV, the Municipality of Lerici, Scuola di Mare S. Teresa and Cooperativa Mitilicoltori Associati (https://smartbaysteresa.com/).
Forte Pianelloni, which is always within walking distance of Pozzuolo and can be reached along a beautiful and shady path, is currently being restored by the Municipality of Lerici, while the Falconara Park – situated on a panoramic hill from where you can enjoy a 360 degree view of the Gulf of La Spezia and the Bay of Lerici – has already been redeveloped. The Falconara sport centre is surrounded by a pleasant and scenic path that winds around, which was upgraded on the occasion of the centenary of the infamous Falconara explosion of 1922, with thematic panels retracing the
history of the gun battery and the military garrisons in the area. The tragic event, which caused the death of hundreds of people and the destruction of dozens of buildings in both Pozzuolo and San Terenzo, had such a national resonance that it drew volunteers from all over Italy to help the local population. It was one of the first interventions that gave birth to the Italian Civil Protection.
Senato
Located at about 6 km from Lerici, along the road that leads to Bocca di Magra, Senato is a small town that winds along the banks of the Magra River, renowned for its fruit and vegetable production. It is a must-visit for the purchase of locally grown produce directly from local producers. The Senato plain has undergone several interventions to protect fields, houses and businesses from periodic flooding of the river, and is now home to an active Civil Protection volunteers corps.
Muggiano
Muggiano, a seaside village on the border between the municipalities of Lerici and La Spezia, has been home since the second half of the nineteenth century to industrial companies that have marked its history and, at the same time, profoundly influenced the context of the surrounding landscape.
The foundation of “Giorgio Henfrey & C.” dates back to 1883, the first shipyard to repair the ship used to transport minerals destined to the “Pertusola” foundry, where both lead and silver were processed.
Since then, the Muggiano shipyards, in their century-long history, have seen the succession of different ownerships and productions, both military and civilian, until they were incorporated into Fincantieri in 1984.
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In the distant past, Muggiano was situated in a very different landscape from that of today: a rugged coastline surrounded by luxuriant, fertile hills, rich in water and natural springs.
Valuable architectural terracotta artefacts occasionally found – and now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Castello San Giorgio in La Spezia – testify to the presence of residential settlements dating back to the Augustan age. Both the finds and the toponym “Musano” testify to the founding of the town: Muggiano was an important part of a system of noble “domus” that were widespread in the Gulf of La Spezia.
In medieval times, while the existence of a pilgrims’ hospice called “San Leonardo di Musano”, of which there is a trace in some eighteenth-century chronicles, is still debated, the existence of the hospice of “San Bartolomeo delle Cento Chiavi”, located a short distance from Muggiano, in the Ruffino area, is now proven. Around this hospice and its church, a community flourished that was involved in agriculture and in the management of what, until the 1920s, was the port of Arcola.
After the Second World War, Muggiano was increasingly characterised as a world-class location in naval, industrial, military and recreation shipbuilding, incorporating the Municipalities of Lerici and La Spezia. Today, with the “Marinetta” recreational port, built thanks to the voluntary commitment of the inhabitants in the 1970s, Muggiano is one of Lerici’s five boroughs and as such it participates in the Palio del Golfo.