Sunday in the hinterland, between mists and surprises
There is a Sunday different from the others that begins before dawn, when Genoa still sleeps wrapped in the salt and you are already in the car heading inland, following the Aurelia which climbs gently towards the Apennines. It’s the Sunday of the hinterland, the one that takes you where the sea gives way to chestnut woods and the houses are no longer pink and ocher but gray with ancient stone.
An hour and a half from Genoa, where our residences await you for your morning departure, lies one of the most extraordinary villages in Italy. A place that is incredible: it is the only Italian municipality powered 100% by renewable energy, but above all it is a perfectly preserved medieval village with an urban plan that is unique in the world.
Varese Ligure welcomes you like this, like a well-kept secret of the La Spezia Apennines, where the Middle Ages never ended and ecology became a lifestyle choice before a fashion.
“In the heart of the Ligurian Apennines, where the mountains tell ancient stories and the future is already present”
— Popular saying of the Val di Vara
The round village: a miracle of stone and urban planning
As soon as you arrive in Varese Ligure, you immediately understand that this place is special. The ancient village has a perfect circular plan, unique in medieval European urban planning. Imagine a gigantic cart wheel made of gray stone: in the center the square, around the houses following concentric rings, all enclosed by the ancient walls.
Photo by Christoph Hanssen on Pexels
It is the Borgo Rotondo, built by the Fieschis in the 13th century with a geometric precision that leaves you breathless. The houses lean against each other following the curve of the walls, the arched porticoes support the upper floors, the stone stairs connect the different levels. Walking through its alleys means crossing seven centuries of history without ever losing the thread of the story.
At the center of everything, Piazza Fieschi opens its circular space where the market once took place and today children play while grandmothers chat on the steps of the church. Here time has a different rhythm, marked by the ringing of bells and the passing of the seasons rather than by clocks.
Don’t miss the climb to the Fieschi Castle, whose remains still dominate the village. From up there the view extends over the Val di Vara and you understand why this place was chosen as a fortress: it controlled all the communication routes between the coast and the Po Valley.
The green record: when the Apennines become the future
But Varese Ligure is not just an open-air museum. It is the first municipality in Italy to be completely self-sufficient from an energy point of view, powered 100% by renewable sources. A record that was not born from the ecological fashion of recent years, but from a far-sighted choice that began in the nineties.
Walking around the town you will see the solar panels on the roofs that integrate harmoniously with the medieval architecture, the wind turbines on the ridges that produce clean energy without ruining the landscape, the hydroelectric power plant that exploits the strength of the Vara stream. It is a concrete example of how tradition and innovation can coexist without contradictions.
This attention to the environment is also reflected in agricultural production. Varese Ligure cheeses are strictly organic, produced by cattle that graze freely on high altitude meadows. The famous Formaggio di Genova DOP, which is actually produced right here, maintains authentic flavors thanks to methods handed down for generations.
“In Varese Ligure the future has ancient roots: clean energy comes from the same wisdom that built the round village”
— Registration in the municipal visitor center
How to get from sunrise to sunset
From Genoa to Varese Ligure it takes about 90 minutes by car, a journey that is already part of the experience. Take the A12 motorway towards Sestri Levante, exit at Brugnato and then follow the SP523 which climbs gently into the Val di Vara. It is a panoramic road that passes through chestnut woods, pastures and small rural villages.
Unfortunately, the train does not arrive directly: the closest station is Brugnato-Borghetto Vara on the Genoa-La Spezia line, from which, however, infrequent buses serve. For a day trip the car is definitely advisable, also because it allows you to explore the valley with greater freedom.
In the town you will find free parking both in the new village and near the walls of the historic centre. Summer arrives early: Varese Ligure is becoming more and more well-known and the car parks fill up quickly on weekends.
A perfect day between history and flavours
Depart from Genoa around 8.30 am to arrive in Varese Ligure around 10.00 am, when the village wakes up and the first lights of the morning illuminate the gray stone of the houses. Start your visit from Borgo Rotondo: enter from Porta Sottana and let yourself be guided by the spiral of alleys to the central square.
Around 11:00 visit the Fieschi Castle and the small ethnographic museum which tells the story of peasant life in the valley. If it’s Sunday you might find the local produce market in the square: it’s the right opportunity to taste organic cheeses and buy chestnut honey.
For lunch you have two options: a trattoria in the old village where you can taste testaroli from Lunigiana seasoned with walnut pesto, or a tavern in the new village with a view of the valley where you can try the veal raised in the local pastures. The prices are honest and the portions generous, as befits the Apennine tradition.
Dedicate the afternoon to a walk in the valley: the Energy Path takes you to discover the eco-sustainable installations of the municipality, while the Cheese Path crosses the pastures where the famous local DOP originates. They are both easy routes, suitable for the whole family.
Around 4.30pm, take a stop at the visitor center to better understand the town’s energy project, then a final walk in the village to photograph the long shadows of the sunset on the medieval porticoes. The return to Genoa for dinner is perfect: you arrive at our homes around 6.30pm with the satisfaction of having discovered an authentic and surprising corner of Liguria.
The secret that is worth the trip
Here’s the detail that makes Varese Ligure truly special: it is the only medieval village in Europe built with a perfectly circular urban plan that is still intact. It is not a coincidence: the Fieschis designed this scheme following principles of harmony and defense that were inspired by the ideals of the time. Every house, every alley, every arch responds to a precise logic that you can still read today while walking the streets.
This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. Fee…, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
But there’s more: this medieval geometric perfection coexists with modern ecological primacy, creating a unique balance. Varese Ligure is not a museum-village that thrives on nostalgia, but a living community that has managed to combine memory and future. It is this harmonious contrast that makes it irresistible.
The return to base: Genoa awaits you
When you return to Genoa after a day in Varese Ligure, you bring with you the scent of chestnut trees and the flavor of goat’s cheese, but also the feeling of having experienced first-hand a possible model of sustainable life. It is a trip that will never be forgotten, because it combines the beauty of the past with the hope of the future.
In our dwellings in the historic centre the comfort of Genoa awaits you after the adventure of the hinterland: the hot shower, the small terrace overlooking the roofs, breakfast tomorrow morning before discovering another Ligurian wonder. Because Genoa is this: the perfect starting point to explore one of the richest and most surprising territories in Italy, knowing that you always return home in the evening.
If the La Spezia Apennines and its sustainable villages are calling you, book your stay in our homes. Varese Ligure awaits you with its circular beauty and clean energy, just an hour and a half from Genoa.
