The Call of the Riviera: Sunday’s Awakening
There is a precise moment, on Sunday mornings in Genoa, when the city seems suspended. Sunlight cuts diagonally through the caruggi, the aroma of freshly baked focaccia mingles with that of coffee, and in the crisp morning air you sense an irresistible call. It is the call of the Riviera. If you have chosen to stay in our residences in the heart of the Superb City, you have at your disposal a rare privilege: using one of the most fascinating cities of the Mediterranean as a base to explore a territory that the whole world envies us for. Today we take you eastward, where the coast becomes gentle and colors burst forth.
All you need to do is head to Genoa Brignole train station and board a regional train. In less than forty minutes, the landscape beyond your window transforms into a real-time documentary. You will leave behind the elegant seafront promenade of Nervi, surpass the villages clinging to the cliffs like Bogliasco and Sori, cross Recco with its imaginary aroma of melted cheese, until the train slows down, curving into a gulf that shaped international tourism’s history. Welcome to the Gulf of Tigullio.
This is not the harsh and vertiginous Liguria of Cinque Terre, nor the secret and shadowy one of the Genoese alleyways you learned to know by reading our Genoa guide. Tigullio is the finest parlor, the place where lush nature weds an elegance of bygone times. It is a perfect destination for a day trip, a brief journey that will fill your eyes with blue and green, then bring you back home in the evening, tired but satisfied, with the taste of salt still on your lips.
Santa Margherita Ligure: the Fine Parlor by the Sea
As soon as you step off the train at Santa Margherita Ligure, you will immediately understand you have arrived in a special place. While Portofino is the exclusive and sometimes unapproachable showcase of the jet set, “Santa”—as the Ligurians affectionately call it—is the older sister, more relaxed, authentically refined yet effortlessly so. The seafront promenade is a succession of lush palms and meticulously tended flower beds, framed by a curtain of historic buildings whose façades are a triumph of trompe-l’œil: fake shutters, fake stucco, fake cornices painted with such mastery as to deceive the eye even from a few meters away, in the tones of antique pink, ochre yellow, and brick red.
Photo by Dorin Seremet on Unsplash
Life here flows at a placid pace. We recommend you begin your exploration from the tourist port. Early in the morning, you can watch fishermen returning with nets full of catch, while a little further along sailors polish the brass of luxury yachts. It is this contrast, vivid and real, that gives Santa Margherita its soul. But do not stop at the seafront alone. Head up toward the Villa Durazzo complex, a magnificent centuries-old park dominating the bay. Strolling among its neoclassical statues, the risseau paths (the typical Ligurian mosaic of white and black pebbles) and exotic plants, will make you feel part of an era when time flowed more slowly.
Next to the villa, the Church of San Giacomo di Corte offers a breathtaking glimpse of the gulf. From there, the sea takes on hues ranging from cobalt to emerald green, dotted with white sails catching the morning breeze. It is the ideal moment to sit on a bench, breathe deeply the air saturated with iodine and pine resin, and prepare yourself for the next stage of your exploration.
Rapallo: the Imperfect Charm of the “Wrong City”
If Santa Margherita is undisputed elegance, nearby Rapallo is often defined by purists as a “wrong city”. The building boom of the Sixties left visible scars on the surrounding hills, where apartment buildings climb in disorderly fashion. Yet stopping at this first impression would be an unforgivable mistake. Rapallo possesses a profound, layered, exquisitely literary charm. It is no coincidence that writers like Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, and Max Beerbohm chose to live there for long periods.
The beating heart of the city is its seafront promenade dedicated to Vittorio Veneto, a wide palm-lined walkway that curves gently following the line of the bay. Here stands the Music Pavilion, an Art Nouveau jewel in wrought iron where Sunday concerts were once held. Nearby, isolated in the middle of the water and connected to the mainland by a stone pier, rises the Castle on the Sea. Built in 1550 to defend the population from raids by Saracen pirates, today it is the undisputed symbol of Rapallo, a stone guardian watching the horizon.
But the true secret of Rapallo is found by looking upward. Behind the city stands the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Montallegro. You can reach it by car or on foot, but the most spectacular way is to use the cable car. In just seven minutes, you will be lifted from sea level to six hundred meters altitude, suspended in the air above cork oak and chestnut forests. From the sanctuary terrace, the view embraces the entire Tigullio Gulf, extending on clear days all the way to Corsica. It’s an experience that will change your perspective, giving you a visual map of all the territory you are exploring.
From Camogli to San Fruttuoso: the charm of the promontory
The Tigullio Gulf is separated from the Paradise Gulf by the imposing bulk of the Portofino Promontory, a block of rocky conglomerate covered by dense Mediterranean vegetation. This is where the true pearls of the area are hidden. If you want to add a touch of adventure to your outing, we suggest exploring this stretch of coast, which offers radically different scenery just a few kilometers apart.
Yazle, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
You could decide to reach Camogli, the village of “a thousand white sailing ships,” with its very tall and colorful buildings reflected directly in the waters of the little harbor. Camogli has a deeply maritime soul, less fashionable and rougher than Santa Margherita. From here, or from Santa Margherita itself, you can take one of the line boats to take a journey through time. The destination is the Abbey of San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte.
“A small village that spreads like a crescent moon around this calm basin… a hidden place, silent, enclosed between high mountains.”
— Guy de Maupassant, La vie errante (1890)
San Fruttuoso is a miracle of stone set in a small cove, accessible exclusively by sea or through steep wooded trails. There are no roads, no cars. Only the sound of waves on white pebbles and the severe and majestic profile of the Benedictine abbey founded in the year 1000, today a property protected by FAI. Swimming in the crystal-clear waters of the bay, with the abbey silently watching you from the beach, is an emotion you will hardly forget. Beneath the sea surface, seventeen meters deep, rests the famous statue of the Christ of the Abyss, a pilgrimage destination for divers from all over the world.
How to get there and the perfect itinerary for your day
The practical organization of this outing is surprisingly simple, provided you follow one golden rule: leave your car in Genoa. The Aurelian Way, while offering magnificent views, is often congested, and finding parking in these locations can turn into a frustrating and costly treasure hunt. The train is your best ally. From Genova Piazza Principe or Genova Brignole stations, regional and fast regional trains depart at a frequency of about two or three per hour. The journey lasts on average between 35 and 45 minutes.
Here’s a flexible itinerary suggestion for your Sunday. Leave Genoa around nine in the morning, heading down to Santa Margherita Ligure. Treat yourself to a leisurely breakfast at one of the cafés in the center, perhaps enjoying a slice of focaccia dipped in cappuccino, as true Ligurians do. Spend the morning strolling through Villa Durazzo park and along the harbor. Around noon, you can choose: if you love walking, take the beautiful pedestrian path that hugs the coastline all the way to Paraggi and then Portofino (about an hour of easy walking). If you prefer to relax, take a ferry from the port.
For lunch, avoid the restaurants too exposed on the main docks and seek out small trattorias on the side streets. After lunch, take the train or local bus to Rapallo. Spend the afternoon exploring the caruggi (narrow alleyways) of the historic center, pause to admire the Castello sul Mare, and if weather permits, take the cable car up to Montallegro to enjoy the golden light of late afternoon. The train ride back to Genoa will let you admire the sunset over the sea from your window, bringing the day full circle.
The detail that makes the trip worthwhile: red prawns and bobbin lace
In every trip we suggest on La Superba, we love to recommend a lesser-known detail, something that enriches your experience beyond the usual postcards. In Tigullio, this detail has two souls: one gastronomic and one artisanal.
From a culinary point of view, you cannot leave Santa Margherita without having tasted the famous Red Prawn. Caught at great depths by local fishing boats, this crustacean has a sweet flavor and unparalleled texture. Eaten raw, with just a drizzle of Ligurian extra virgin olive oil, it’s an absolute sensory experience. From an artisanal perspective, instead, seek out the historic shops where bobbin lace is still made. This ancient art, imported centuries ago, is kept alive by patient women who weave threads of linen and cotton, moving dozens of wooden bobbins on a special cylindrical pillow. Watching their hands fly light and fast is like watching a hypnotic dance, a fragment of living history that resists mass tourism.
In the evening, when the train brings you back to Genoa’s station, you’ll feel the pleasant tiredness of someone who has lived a full day. Returning to our residences won’t be like entering a cold hotel room, but like coming home. You’ll have your own spaces, your own kitchen to prepare yourself a warm herbal tea, and the silence needed to process the day’s memories. Tigullio will have given you its elegance, but Genoa will be there to welcome you, ready to reveal a new secret tomorrow. If this land of contrasts is calling to you, we are here to welcome you: you can book now your stay and start dreaming about your next Ligurian Sunday.
