The Other Riviera Where, How and When Enjoy a Holiday in the Greenery of Liguria’S Riviera Delle Palme
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A stone’s throw from the sea THE VALLEYS BETWEEN BORGIO AND BORGHETTO SANTO SPIRITO The other Riviera Where, how and when enjoy a holiday in the greenery of Liguria’s Riviera delle Palme e natur gastronomy itineraries tastes hospitality the other riviera The valleys between Borgio Verezzi and Borghetto Santo Spirito “From up there on the narrow terrace of a towering mountain, I will look down over the sea; my body will be salt, the white of a sail or the yellow of a broom flower”. Strolling along the cobbled streets of the villages in the valleys between Borgio Verezzi and Borghetto Santo Spirito, admiring the pale stone houses overlooking the sea, breathing in the perfumed broom flowers, walking through a carpet of beech leaves in the upper Bormida Valley, you’re reminded of the wonderful song by Joan Manuel Serrat and Gino Paoli, “Mediterraneo”. Down below white sails bob on the sea; up on the hills the air is tinged yellow with broom flowers and perfumed with ilex trees; the old walls are decorated with delicate blue Italian bellflowers (Campanula isophylla, the delight of many a botanist); the ridges are lined with centuries-old beech trees… then there are vineyards, sweeping panoramas, chestnut woods and wild mushrooms… All this is the other Riviera. 2 Bormida di Millesimo Valley and Tànaro Valley Maremola and Scarincio V Varatella Valley Rio Nimbalto Valley alleys Verezzi Borghetto Loano Pietra Borgio Santo Spirito Ligure 3 the other riviera The Maremola PIETRA LIGURE and Scarincio Valleys The valleys of Mount Carmo Green in some areas, rocky in others, Mount Carmo casts its own unique spell that has made it one of the area’s most attractive hiking destinations – not least because of its 1389-metre drop straight to the sea. This majestic deity dominates the coast of Borgio, Pietra Ligure and Loano. The panorama from its summit extends from the French Riviera to Corsica, the Cinque Terre, the Apuan Alps, Mount Rosa, the Lombardy plain and Mount Adamello. Countless torrents, including the Maremola and the Scarincio, flow through the woods and countryside down towards the sea. 4 Tovo Verezzi San Giacomo Magliolo Giustenice Ranzi A stone’s throw from the sea Verezzi 200 metres above sea level, 4 km from the A10 motorway exit (Pietra Ligure) 1 km from the sea (Borgio) Tovo San Giacomo 50 metres above sea level 6 km from the A10 motorway exit (Pietra Ligure) 4 km from the sea (Pietra Ligure) Magliolo 270 metres above sea level, 8 km from the A10 motorway exit (Pietra Ligure), 9 km from the sea (Pietra Ligure) Giustenice 160 metres above sea level, 8 km from the A10 motorway exit (Pietra VEREZZI Ligure) 4 km from the sea (Pietra Ligure) A village loved by poets Ranzi 180 metres above sea level, 1 km from the A10 “Verezzi is best walked not from the street but from motorway exit (Pietra the rooftops, which are not rooftops at all but small Ligure) 2 km from the terraces, baked and bent by the sun. An uneven expanse, with sea (Pietra Ligure) slight rises and falls, that takes you from one dwelling to the next... The main door, the first flight of a broken staircase, reveal that some of them are elegant old homes. On the ground floor, now... the donkey kicks its legs, on the first floor, pride of place is held by… an oil mill made of solid oak, witness to an era when olives were pressed by hand… Everything in Verezzi is made of Finale stone: a hard, rosy stone… the thresholds and the architraves, the niche with the statue of Our Lady, the millstones are made of Finale stone... ...in Verezzi every house has its own pergola; rising from the paving at almost every threshold, a vine trained for generations, father to son, to climb the façade fans out at the top to shade the highest balcony…”. (From “Postilla a Verezzi” by Camillo Sbarbaro, published by kind permission of Lina Sbarbaro). 5 the other riviera Verezzi …cuisine takes centre stage Here are the addresses for dining in Verezzi. The first place you encounter as you climb up from the crowded coast is the Ristorante Il Mulino (restaurant and brasserie). Piazza’s Antica Osteria Saracena del Bergallo (inn) serves Ligurian dishes – but prepared Piedmont-style. Piazza also has other restaurants worth trying, like the Ristorante A Töpia, named after the area’s typical vine-covered pergolas, and the Ristorante Il Cappero (named after the delicious local capers). Close to the square where the performances are staged, the B&B Archivolto and the Agriturismo Cà du Gregorio (guest farm) offer excellent overnight accommodation. The Ristorante da Sem is located on the walk from The Borgio Crosa uphill to the charming Verezzi church of San Martino: it is an authentic country trattoria Theatre surrounded by holm oaks, Festival where you can enjoy the Verezzi’s best-known event sound of crickets and a is its theatre festival, held breathtaking view as you every summer in the dine. A short distance away, enchanting square of the further uphill in the hamlet of Piazza. woods, there is an International theatre old mill, referred companies perform to as “fenicio”, amidst the town’s after the ancient low stone technique buildings, with the used to make church of Sant’Agostino the internal as a backdrop, whilst the blades. The mill is summer sunset colours the now the emblem of sky. Nearby, before and after the national “Veretium” 6 the performance… Theatre Prize. The Maremola and Scarincio Valleys Verezzi Where, how and when www.inforiviera.it/blu/borgio.cfm Agriturismo Cà du Gregorio via Ortari 12, tel. and fax 019 611 952 Antica Osteria Saracena del Bergallo via Roma 17, Piazza, tel. 019 610 487 B&B Archivolto via Roccaro 6, tel. 019 611 820 www.archivolto.net, [email protected] Ristorante A Töpia via Roma 16, Piazza, tel. 019 616 905 Ristorante da Sem near the church of San Martino, tel. 019 615 151 Ristorante Il Cappero via Roma 23, Piazza, tel. 019 610 958 www.ilcappero.com, [email protected] Ristorante Il Mulino via Cava Vecchia 2, tel. 019 613 434 7 the other riviera Tovo San Giacomo TOVO SAN GIACOMO The clock town The 2300 residents of Tovo San Giacomo live in various hamlets in the middle of the small but lush Maremola Valley. The valley is in the hilly inland area of Pietra Ligure, just a few kilometres from the coast and the wooded Melogno Hill that leads to the Bormida Valley. As indicated by its very name – “vecchio” means old – Bardino Vecchio is an ancient town that may date as far back as the time of Charlemagne. The church of San Giovanni boasts a Gothic bell tower with several bacini, ceramic plates produced by the Arabs, embedded in its walls. However, the highlight of Tovo San Giacomo is in Bardino Nuovo: the Tower Clock Museum was the first one of its kind opened in Italy. The monumental clockwork parts exhibited at the museum document over a century of work by the Bergallo family, nationally renowned artists and craftsmen who made clocks from 1860 to 1980. Their clocks mark time on the towers of several major Italian cities such as Albenga, Savona, Bologna and Taranto. 8 Maremola and Scarincio valleys Buon appetito and… good night The local vineyards yield excellent Pigato, Vermentino and Barbarossa, which are ideal with traditional dishes like snails and savoury pies, particularly the local pumpkin pie. And so it’s buon appetito and good night at the Albergo Ristorante Franzone (hotel and restaurant), centrally located next to the town hall and the enormous eighteenth-century parish church of San Giacomo Apostolo. Accommodation is also available at the Agriturismo Il Poggio (guest farm), a fifteenth-century building dubbed “the general’s house”, where guests can purchase vegetables, barnyard animals, oil, jam and wine, and the Affittacamere Casa Nobile (rooming house). On the right-hand side of the valley the B&B Claro de Luna offers its guests use of the library, Internet access, a gym with a sauna, and rooms that are elegantly decorated “Missoni” style. Other spots worth visiting are the Taverna Cà di Giurni (inn), which offers Ligurian cuisine as well as pizza, and the lavish and elegant Rélais Il Casale, an exquisite late nineteenth- century country house in Bardino Vecchio. The Hotel Ristorante Bergallo is also in Bardino Vecchio, whereas Casa Vacanze Bosio (which also has a restaurant), the Pizzeria Il Caminetto, the B&B La Luna e Sei Soldi, and the B&B La corte dei Miracoli are in Bardino Nuovo. Gourmets can find delicious honey as well as goat cheese and cow’s milk cheese at the Azienda Agricola Il Vecchio Castagno (farm), between Bardino Vecchio and the main road of Melogno. 9 the other riviera Tovo San Giacomo Tovo San Giacomo Where, how and when Town Hall tel. 019 637 901 B&B La Luna e sei soldi www.inforiviera.it/blu/tovo.cfm via Bosi 3, Bardino Nuovo Affittacamere Casa Nobile tel. 019 639 225, 340 928 1094 via Roma 59, tel. 333 694 0547 www.lunaeseisoldi.it Agriturismo Il Poggio Casa vacanze Bosio (with restaurant) via Poggio 129, tel. 019 637 134 via San Sebastiano 98, Bardino Nuovo [email protected] tel. 019 637 227, www.casavacanzebosio.com Albergo Ristorante Franzone Hotel Ristorante Bergallo piazza Umberto I 11 piazza San Carlo 10, Bardino Vecchio tel. 019 637 133 tel. 019 637 226, www.bergallo.net Azienda Agricola “G. B. Bergallo” Tower Clock Museum Il Vecchio Castagno piazza San Sebastiano 10, Bardino Nuovo di Carmela Ricciardello call Town Hall via Portio 185, tel.