What is Celle Ligure known for?

Working kilns since the seventeenth century, recognized as a Città della Ceramica of ancient tradition in 2019. Beach flag first awarded in 1989 and uninterrupted from 1996, more than three decades of recognition for the coast. Ceramic Assumption with San Michele and the dragon on the parish façade, one of Fontana's public ceramic works installed in his native Liguria.

Where is Celle Ligure?

Celle Ligure is a comune in the province of Savona, Liguria region of Italy, about 43 kilometers from Genova.

Liguria · Savona

Celle Ligure

A Riviera di Ponente beach town with kilns firing since the 1600s and a Lucio Fontana ceramic on the parish church façade.

43 km / 27 mi

Nearest hub (Genova)

4,873

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Celle Ligure sits at sea level on the Riviera di Ponente, ten kilometers west of Savona. The Aleramici marquises gave the lands to a Piedmontese monastery in 1014; the Genovese families took them over within a generation. The Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo carries a ceramic Assumption by Lucio Fontana on its façade, with the saint defeating the dragon, and inside hangs a Via Crucis by Aurelio Caminati alongside ceramic stations by Emanuele Luzzati. The town has been firing ceramics since the seventeenth century; the Ministry of Economic Development recognized it as a Città della Ceramica with ancient tradition in 2019, and a handful of artisan kilns still work the streets behind the lungomare. The beach holds Bandiera Blu without interruption from 1996 to today, after a first award in 1989, and the centro storico is one of the Borghi più belli d'Italia. Pope Sixtus IV's family came from here.

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Gallery

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Known for

Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo
Main parish church with a ceramic Assumption by Lucio Fontana on the façade, a Via Crucis by Caminati and ceramic stations by Emanuele Luzzati inside.
Centro storico
Borgo of narrow caruggi behind the lungomare, with active artisan ceramic workshops and ceramic shop signs on the buildings themselves.
Spiaggia di Celle Ligure
Sand and gravel beach with Bandiera Blu since 1989 and uninterrupted from 1996, the basis of the town's summer economy.
Piazza dei Mille
Seafront square at the heart of the lower town, named for Garibaldi's expedition and the central point of the lungomare.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the dry months on this stretch of the Ponente. The sea warms enough for swimming by late May. July and August are full: the lungomare slows, the beach establishments fill with weekenders from Torino, and the Aurelia stays clogged from Albisola to Varazze on Friday afternoons. November through March is quiet. Many seasonal restaurants close. The ceramic workshops keep their winter hours and the parish church is the easiest place in town to be alone with the Fontana façade.