The most beautiful hamlets in Italy in La Spezia area
There are several rankings about the “most beautiful villages in Italy”, such as the Touring Club’s and the one of the ANCI association. One thing is certain: the province of La Spezia abounds with many times prized hamlets.
In 2016 the touring Club certified with the assignment of the Orange Flag four of the most beautiful villages in Italy in the province of La Spezia. This recognition takes into consideration the sustainability of the incoming offer, their quality and the average level of hospitality. But also the Association of Italian Municipalities assigns the certification Most Beautiful Villages of Italy to the villages that bear witness to the heritage of art, culture, environment and traditions. In our area there are six of them.
Even those who have them at the door of an afternoon trip outside the city can see them with new eyes every time, due to the abundance of cultural, landscape and traditional aspects.
The round hamlet Varese Ligure, “capital” of the biological district.
Varese Ligure is located in the heart of the first European organic district, and many of its gastronomic products are the reason for tasty Sunday excursions for many locals, as well as quality gastronomic shopping for meat, cheese, and honey. But if gastronomic tourism is not for you, the beauty and uniqueness of the round village are no different. The characteristic inhabited area with a round shape form, which can be specially appreciated from the aerial view, was built at the behest of the Fieschis in the fifteenth century, and enclosed within walls with a circular course. Don’t miss the district of Grecino, which extends beyond the scenic bridge of the same name built in 1516 above the Crovana stream.
Brugnato, val di Vara history
Also Brugnato seen from above, reveals the need to defend a great wealth at its center: in fact, the village proudly guards the history of the Val di Vara and has earned the orange flag for the good preservation of the preciousness of its historic center. Brugnato was in fact the center of the Ligurian bishopric in the Middle Ages together with Sarzana, and the presence of the Church made it a very important cultural and artistic center for the Ligurian hinterland. Add to this the strategic position for the communication routes. A walk in its streets will reveal numerous noble palaces with beautiful facades. St. Peter’s Square is the beating heart of the village, with the church dating back – in its original form – to the 11th century.
Volastra, beyond the kingdom’s borders
For the locals it is well known that Framura is not part of the Cinque Terre, but for those who visit us from the outside, the borders are weaker and less rigid, and the territory of the five boroughs expands to a wider area, which is defined mostly in terms of beauty and stories in common.
Recently discovered and increasingly interested in international tourist flows, Framura lets its extraordinary history of ancient nobility be discovered in the various hamlets that make it up at different heights above sea level. From Anzo, dating back to the time of the Etruscans who here found the limit of their territorial and linguistic area to Costa, high on the promontory, with a beautiful Carolingian bell tower.
Pignone e il suo antico ponte, oggi ricostruito dopo l’alluvione del 2011. Ph. Eco del Levante
Montemarcello, a unique view on the Gulf of the Poets
Montemarcello gives its name to one of the most important parks in the territory, which extends between the Val di Vara and the Val di Magra, and is its the capital, overlooking the Gulf with one of the most beautiful view on it. An ancient settlement, which probably owes its name to the Roman Consul Marcello who conquered over the Ligurian Apuans, a notoriously hostile population.
Today Montemarcello is a placid Borgo, one of the most beautiful in Italy, with colorful houses and cheerful squares, surrounded by olive trees and kissed by the sun for most of the days, thanks to its position among the most suggestive of the Gulf.
Vernazza, Cinque Terre virali e una rinascita portentosa
Vernazza è forse il borgo più noto dell’area delle Cinque Terre, per la sua bellezza iconica ma anche per la sua storia recente, non fortunata. Fu infatti protagonista della disastrosa alluvione del 2011, che la investì devastando il centro storico. Oggi Vernazza è rinata grazie alla caparbietà dei suoi abitanti e della sua bellezza.
Il borgo è forse il più antico del comprensorio delle Cinque Terre, e ricche famiglie genovesi del passato avevano proprietà a Vernazza, che divenne un importante centro commerciale durante l’età medioevale.
La via principale del borgo è una pittoresca stradina che descrive una vita vivace, con un’atmosfera popolata da tipiche botteghe artigiane e ristoranti.
All’estremità orientale del Golfo dei Poeti, Tellaro salvato da un polpo.
Collocato su una scogliera nella zona di Lerici, Tellaro si affaccia sul Golfo dei Poeti da una posizione privilegiata. In ogni angolo di Tellaro senti il suono delle onde e vivi in un mondo fatto di poesia, artigianato e fascino.
Il polpo è un vero eroe della tradizione tellarese, non solo nella cucina locale con il Polpo Telarese , ma per la vita stessa del villaggio ligure.
Teresa
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