What is Ameglia known for?

Episcopal fief from the diploma of Otto I in 963 until the fifteenth century, the southernmost outpost of the Luni diocese. Boccaccio places the poet at the Santa Croce del Corvo monastery in 1314, the first documented Dante stay on the Ligurian coast. River-meets-sea wetland and marina at Bocca di Magra, Punta Bianca and Punta Corvo headlands on the Gulf of Poets edge.

Ameglia is a comune in the province of La Spezia, Liguria region of Italy, about 68 kilometers from Pisa.

Liguria · La Spezia

Ameglia

A hilltop borgoabove the mouth of the Magra, the Lunigiana edge of Liguria where the river meets the Gulf of Poets.

68 km / 42 mi

Nearest hub (Pisa)

4,293

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Ameglia sits on a hillwhere the Magra empties into the Ligurian Sea, on the border between Lunigiana and the Riviera. The Magra was the Roman Macra, the eastern boundary of Liguria. The castle on the summit was first cited in Otto I's diploma of 19 May 963, when the emperor assigned the fortress to the bishops of Luni. Genoa bought part of the fief in 1141; the bishops took it back by 1284; Castruccio Castracani of Lucca conquered it in 1321. The current keep is the rebuild of 1174. Boccaccio's Epistola di frate Ilaro places Dante at the monastery of Santa Croce del Corvo at Bocca di Magra in 1314, the first credible record of the poet on the Ligurian coast. The frazione of Bocca di Magra is the marina, a working fishing village turned summer mooring at the river mouth. Punta Bianca and Punta Corvo are accessible only by boat or steep footpath.

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Gallery

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Known for

Castello di Ameglia
Rebuilt in 1174 on a tenth-century footprint, episcopal fortress of the bishops of Luni, cylindrical keep above the Magra estuary.
Centro storico di Ameglia
Concentric medieval streets around the castle, twelfth and thirteenth-century houses with stone arches and external staircases.
Bocca di Magra
Old fishing village and marina at the river mouth, summer mooring for small craft, departure point for Punta Corvo by sea.
Punta Bianca and Punta Corvo
Two headlands south of Bocca di Magra, white-stone and dark-pebble beaches, reachable on foot from Montemarcello or by boat.
Santa Croce del Corvo
Former monastery at Bocca di Magra cited by Boccaccio as Dante's stop in 1314, now a Carmelite study and conference centre.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September to October bring the river's best months: clear estuary water, the headland walks down to Punta Corvo manageable, marinas at Bocca di Magra not yet at summer capacity. July and August fill the river mouth with summer boats from across the Gulf of Poets, and the road down from the borgo backs up on weekends. The Sagra del Pesce in mid-August draws thousands. November through March is quiet. The hilltop borgo stays mild enough for outdoor walking on most winter days, and the marshes attract migratory birds through the cold months. February is when Magra mussels are at their best in the local trattorias.