Anywhere Italy

Elevation

Balcony towns: high villages above the Ligurian sea

Ligurian comuni that sit at 250 meters or more, a coastline looked at from above. 10 towns shown, highest first.

Liguria is famous horizontally, for the five towns at sea level that absorb the region's entire tourist load. Vertically it is a different country: villages at two hundred and fifty meters and up, hung above the coast in the terraced hills.

From these towns the sea is a view rather than a beach, which is why nobody queues for them. Highest first.

  1. 1.Santo Stefano d'Aveto1,012 mGenova · LiguriaLiguria's highest commune at 1,012 meters in the Ligurian-Emilian Apennines, with a Malaspina-Doria castle and the only ski resort in the region.
  2. 2.Triora776 mImperia · LiguriaThe witches' village at 776 meters in the upper Valle Argentina, where the Inquisition put around 200 women on trial between 1587 and 1589.
  3. 3.Perinaldo572 mImperia · LiguriaA ridge village at 572 meters above the Val Nervia, birthplace of Giovanni Domenico Cassini and home to a working astronomical observatory in his name.
  4. 4.Seborga517 mImperia · LiguriaA hilltop village at 517 meters above Bordighera that calls itself a principality, 276 residents, its own coins and stamps since 1963.
  5. 5.Millesimo429 mSavona · LiguriaA fortified Del Carretto borgo at 429 meters in the upper Val Bormida, where Napoleon broke the Austro-Sardinian army in April 1796.

The slow-trip planner

Plan a slow trip across the towns travelers skip.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip
  1. 6.Castelvecchio di Rocca Barbena420 mSavona · LiguriaA stone village of 130 residents at 420 meters in the Val Neva, built into the southern foot of Rocca Barbena at 1,142 meters.
  2. 7.Sassello381 mSavona · LiguriaA baroque borgo at 381 meters in the Parco del Beigua, where Geltrude Rossi invented the soft amaretto in 1860.
  3. 8.Ceriana369 mImperia · LiguriaA medieval village at 369 meters above the Valle Armea, inland from Sanremo, built on the Roman castrum that gave it its name.
  4. 9.Varese Ligure358 mLa Spezia · LiguriaThe Val di Vara's medieval seat at 358 meters, the first European municipality with ISO 14001 certification, anchor of Italy's largest organic district.
  5. 10.Campo Ligure342 mGenova · LiguriaA Spinola borgo at 342 meters in the Stura valley north of Genova, the last working centre for gold and silver filigree in Italy.

We write about towns like these every Sunday, one town a week, with the photo, the food, the festa. Free, from Pietrasanta.

By subscribing you agree to Substack’s Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and our Information collection notice.

Keep browsing

Five more ways into the catalogue

Subscribe — free

Get the best guides on hidden Italian towns.

One letter on Sundays. The week’s town, with the photo, the food, the festa. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

By subscribing you agree to Substack’s Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and our Information collection notice.

Substack sends a confirmation link to your inbox. The signup finishes when it’s clicked.

From elsewhere in Italy

Five more towns to discover