Destinations: La Spezia, Italy
La Spezia, at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia, is the second city
in the Liguria region, preceded just by Genoa. Though built on the
coast, the narrow strip of land at ocean level has never been wide
enough to contain the town, and many of its streets climb the hillside
behind the town centre. These winding streets follow the contours of
the landscape and offer a chance to see a variety of buildings and
architectural styles away from the more crowded inner city streets.
La Spezia is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours
and hosts the arsenal of the Italian Navy. It is important for its
museums, for the Palio del Golfo, and for the railway and boat links
with Cinque Terre.
Destinations From La Spezia
Cinque Terre
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 10 mins
Cinque Terre is the name given to five stunningly picturesque villages which have clung for centuries to the rugged cliffs of northern Italy’s Mediterannean coast – there is no place quite like them. As a result the villages are intensely popular, so these tiny towns are often full to overflowing with visitors.
Lavagna
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 1 hr 3 mins
Lavagna is a delightful city on the Ligurian coast, the crescent-shaped slice of land that abuts the French border. The stretch of Mediterranean seafront is known as the Italian Riviera, making it a popular spot, yet Lavagna is relatively unknown despite its charm. It lies between Genova and La Spezia.
Sestri Levante
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 47 mins
One of Liguria’s lovely gems, Sestri Levante has a refined island atmosphere. Sitting on the jagged coastline half-way between Genoa and La Spezia, it is a pastel place with nice beaches. The town was actually an island but is now connected to the shoreline’s promontory by a sliver of land in a truly fairy-tale setting.
Genoa
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 1 hr 12 mins
Genoa (Genova) is a port city and capital of the Liguria region in northwest Italy. It is known for its central role in maritime trade over many centuries, being the birth place of Christopher Columbus. Narrow lanes open onto monumental squares like Piazza de Ferrari, the site of an iconic bronze fountain and the Teatro Carlo Felice opera house.
Chiavari
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 43 mins
Situated on the Italian Riviera, Chiavari is a lively city of about 28,000 people that has a lot to offer. It’s big enough to have plenty of life, but small enough to be enjoyable. Sitting on the Entella River where it empties into the sea, it has a fertile river plain that is surrounded by mountains until it reaches the Mediterranean.
Deiva Marina
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 4 hrs
Deiva Marina is a quiet seaside town on the Ligurian Coast. The fishing village is still active and while it has a long, wide beach that attracts summer visitors, Deiva isn’t as well-known or crowded as her more popular resort neighbours. The town is located between the Gulf of Poets and the Cinque Terre but remains a well-kept secret, making it a nice place to escape the crowds.
Portofino
Travel by rail from La Spezia via Chiavari: 1 hr 39 mins
Portofino is so quintessentially Italian, so synonymous with the Italian Riviera, that it’s hard to imagine that at one time it was actually part of France … but it was! From 1805 to 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte decided to annex the entire region into his empire. Ever since Pliny the Elder founded Portofino, this wonderful corner of the Mediterraean has been a magnet for leisure seekers.
Parma
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 1 hrs 54 mins
Parma is a sensational city that is a feast for the senses, from the golden hues to the aromas of the cheese, to the decadent tastes of the delicacies produced here. It is a city to see and experience, with a buzzing lifestyle thanks to its university, one of Europe’s oldest.
Carrara
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 24 mins
Carrara isn’t just another Tuscan hill town; it’s the undisputed marble capital of the world. Sitting at the point where the Apuan Alps descend to the Mediterranean Sea, the quarries of Carrara have been excavated since Roman times. Its prized stone comes in milky white and slatey-gray, and has been used in the most important monuments, churches and sculptures in Italy for more than two millennia.
Massa
Travel by rail from La Spezia via Chiavari: 24 mins
Massa is a town in northwestern Tuscany, located on the western slopes of the Apuan Alps, about 5 km from the Ligurian Sea. The city is overlooked by a hill on top of which stands the Malaspina castle, which dominates the surrounding plain. Although the archeological studies of the area have confirmed that it was already inhabited in the Paleolithic and Neolithic times, like other Tuscan towns, MAassa has Roman origins, dating back roughly to the first centuries AD.
Forte dei Marmi
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 35 mins mins
Delightful tourist destination, near the sea and the heart of Versilia, Forte dei Marmi is really enchanting specially in summer, thanks to the beauty of the sea and magnificent background of the Alps Apuane. The name is related to the oldest commercial trade in Versilia – quarrying calcareous stones to make high quality marble, which has been turned into immortal oeuvres by many Italian geniuses of art such as Michelangelo.
Pietrasanta
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 42 mins
Pietrasanta, also called “The Small Athens”, offers a great cultural and artistic heritage. The city is a remarkable tourist destination, the marine area is a popular seaside resort and its mountains are fascinating places to visit too. The town dates back to the Roman era and had a wall as defence, though mostly gone now. It was officially founded as a town in 1255 when built over a Lombard fort by Luca Guiscardo Pietrasanta.
Viareggio
Travel by rail from La Spezia via Chiavari: 1 hr 23 mins
A millennium ago, the area was fully covered by the sea and the nearby countryside used to be a huge marshy area. In 1460, after a number of quarrels with the inhabitants of Pisa, the population of Lucca decided to reclaim the whole coastline, ensuring in this way a safe landing stage for incoming goods from the sea, starting a wealthy period of flourishing trades.
Lucca
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 1 hrs 18 mins
Lucca is a charming medieval walled town at the border between the ancient Etruscan and Ligurian lands, whose origins date back to unspecified epochs. To the north lies the Garfagnana region, a mountainous area popular with walkers and rich in old fortresses and castles. To the south is the Serra Mountain which divides Lucca from Pisa.
Pisa
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 54 mins
Synonymous for the Leaning Tower, Pisa is actually one of the most important historic and artistic places in Italy. It has its very own “Field of Dreams” – the Campo dei Miracoli; okay, so literally “field of miracles.” Here you’ll find not only the noted inclined monument, but the beautifuly baptistry and the wedding cake-like cathedral, all clustered in a row on a grassy field.
Florence
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 2 hrs 03 mins
Florence is often called the ‘birthplace of the Renaissance,’ and when you think of the art and scholarship which was produced here you can understand why. The city is still brimming with art, and some people say they have spent a whole week in Florence and still felt like they had not seen it all. The famous Michelangelo’s ‘David’ is in Florence – twice. The original now lives in the Accademia and a copy is in the place outside where the original once stood.
Portovenere
Travel by bus from La Spezia: 33 mins
Porto Venere is a town located on the Ligurian coast to the south of Cinque Terre not far from La Spezia. It comprises the three villages of Fezzano, Le Grazie and Porto Venere, and the three islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto. The village lies at the southern end of a peninsula, which, breaking away from the jagged coastline of the Riviera di Levante, forms the western tip of the Gulf of La Spezia.
Savona
Travel by rail from La Spezia: 1 hrs 18 mins
Savona is an overlooked gem with lots of sparkle compared to some of the other tourist destinations in Liguria. With 60,000 inhabitants it is one of the biggest sea ports in the region. In spite of being an industrial town which has been heavily based on the iron industry, Savona is a fabulous location locked into a sunny bay between the sea and the Ligurian Alps. It has many other interesting places to explore.
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