Come to the beach where the sea is blue, and little white waves come running at you. A wave comes splashing, over your toes; you just stand still, and away it goes. We’ll build a castle down by the sea and look for shells if you’ll come with me. ~ Anonymous
It never loses its romantic appeal. Warm azure waters lapping at your feet, the cry of a lone gull soaring overhead, cool refreshment sipped under a colorful umbrella – a day at the beach!
Like many of her other offerings to pleasure seekers, Italy’s Ligurian coast beaches rank as some of the best in the world. It’s a land of contradictions that meld into spectacular beauty. The Alps run their course cascading towards the sea, joining forces with the Apennines as they morph into rocky beaches. Forests hide ancient trails that transverse ridge lines standing guard over sapphire waters below. Knitting it all together are wonders of ancient engineering – terraced ledges hosting vineyards, gardens, and olive groves that cling to mountainsides as if gravity does not apply.
Collectively, this magnificent crescent-shaped stretch of land is known as the Italian Riviera. A 186-mile expanse along the Ligurian Sea, the ancient seaport of Genoa serves as a dividing point of sorts. Reaching westward to the French border is “The Coast of the Setting Sun” – Riviera di Ponente. Spanning eastward until Liguria’s border greets Tuscany is the Riviera di Levante – “The Coast of the Rising Sun.”
The broad, sandy beaches and lush palms of Riviera di Ponente play host to jet-setters who gravitate to the resort town of San Remo, as well as sun seekers who’d just as soon throw out a towel and bask the day away. Moving eastward, beaches along the Riviera di Levante trade their sand for pebbles, hidden like treasures in small coves along the craggy coastline. There’s plenty of glamour to be found in the resort towns of Santa Margherita Ligure or Portofino, but small, colorful villages perched along shorelines and cliffs draw visitors for their spectacular beauty and uniqueness.
Beach tourism in the Italian Riviera is responsible for about 79% of overall tourism in Liguria, according to Paolo Odonoe, President of Unioncamere Ligure. Natural beauty, relaxation on an unspoiled beach, fresh regional food and wine, and a well-preserved local culture all combine to create a universal appeal that draws tourists from Italy and around the world. And sometimes too many tourists! Highly popular Cinque Terre is currently debating limiting the number of visitors who access the fragile trails winding through groves and vineyards between the five villages.
With its striking beauty and leisure-time offerings for a broad variety of tastes, the easily accessible Italian Riviera seems to have it all. No wonder, then, that the beach-minded traveler gravitates here. But has it always been a sun-seeker’s paradise on the balmy Mediterranean?
Other than for a brief period of time during the Pax Romana (27 BCE to 180 AD), this lush Ligurian coast was nowhere to be found on folks’ travel lists. Larger coastal towns, in particular the once-maritime republic of Genoa, served as ports for trade; however, the threat of attack from marauding pirates and other evil sorts was always present. Living inland was much safer and preferred by the populace in general.
It wasn’t until the late 17th century that the modern version of tourism in Italy took hold. With relative peace on the high seas and a supportive economy, travel for the élite became possible. It was a movement known as The Grand Tour – the beginnings of travel for the sake of travel. Qualifiers included being a member of the aristocracy with the means for making an extended voyage and, most frequently, young, educated men, generally from Britain. A trip to Italy was framed as scholarly and a chance to expose the youthful élite to works of art, music, and culture they would otherwise never experience.
Italy was high on the list of chosen destinations for a Grand Tour due to a book written by Roman Catholic priest Richard Lassels. Published in 1670, Voyage to Italy piqued the intense interest of the educated world and is essentially responsible for initiating the ripple that became the tsunami of the tourism industry in Italy.
The port at Genoa served as the welcome mat for these aristocratic tourists who arrived mostly by ship. In essence, the Italian Riviera was “discovered” as word spread to England and abroad of the allure and charm of this special slice of Italian coast. Its popularity grew throughout the 18th century, and the unassuming word for coastline in Italian found its way to notoriety as the associative term that would stand for all a coastal paradise held – the Riviera.
The Italian Riviera evolved to be a holiday destination for more than just the academic upper crust on a Grand Tour, however. With the advent of rail travel in the mid-1800s, middle class vacationers were able to access the sunny beaches and laid-back way of life along the coast. During this era, Americans began to discover the Riviera, returning with tales of its charm and immense appeal. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The wave of discovery begun those long years ago remains steady and strong today. If trouble finding an empty lounge chair on the beach isn’t proof enough, statistical data on tourism in the area validates the continued popularity of time spent on the Italian Riviera. Yearly increases in international visitors remain steady, along with the healthy bolus to Italy’s 71-billion-euro tourist industry.
Figures aside, the appeal of the coastal paradise is easy to figure out. Stereotypical “Riviera” life is alive and well in larger towns decorated with yacht filled harbors and designer shops. However, the growing tide of tourists are those seeking the simpler elements of the Italian Riviera – life lived in harmony with sea, sun, and mountainside.
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