What is Laigueglia known for?

Seventeenth-century economy ran on coral fished off Corsica and Sardinia, drawing Catalan settlers and funding the Baroque churches. Sheltered sandy litoraneo between Capo Mele and Capo Santa Croce, awarded for water quality and management. Eighteenth-century Baroque parish church with a curved façade and altarpieces by Strozzi, Castellino Castello and De Ferrari.

Laigueglia is a comune in the province of Savona, Liguria region of Italy, about 103 kilometers from Genova.

Liguria · Savona

Laigueglia

A former coral-fishing village on the Riviera di Ponente, with a curved Baroque parish church and a fishermen's grid of caruggi behind the beach.

103 km / 64 mi

Nearest hub (Genova)

1,705

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Laigueglia sits at six meters on the Riviera di Ponente, sheltered between Capo Mele and Capo Santa Croce. The name comes from Aquilia, a reference to the Roman eagle standards, and the village grew from a settlement of fishermen who came over from neighboring Andora. Genoa bought the borough in 1609. Through the seventeenth century the local economy ran on shipbuilding and the coral fishery, which drew Catalan fishermen to settle in numbers and helped pay for the Baroque churches that anchor the centro storico. The Chiesa di San Matteo, eighteenth-century, has a curved façade and holds altarpieces by the Genoese masters Bernardo Strozzi, Castellino Castello and Andrea De Ferrari. The Oratorio di Santa Maria Maddalena from 1616 contains a wooden choir and a Domenico Piola altarpiece. The Litorale carries the Bandiera Blu, and the fishermen's grid behind it still reads as caruggi, small squares opening to the sea, and houses painted in pale violet and ochre.

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Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Chiesa di San Matteo
Eighteenth-century Baroque parish church with a curved façade, housing altarpieces by Bernardo Strozzi, Castellino Castello and Andrea De Ferrari.
Oratorio di Santa Maria Maddalena
1616 oratory of the Confraternita dei Disciplinanti, with a carved wooden choir and an altarpiece by Domenico Piola.
Centro storico
Fishermen's grid of caruggi behind the beachfront, with houses painted in the pale lilac and ochre traditional to the Ponente coast.
Litorale di Laigueglia
Sandy beachfront awarded the Bandiera Blu in 2025, sheltered between Capo Mele and Capo Santa Croce.
Torri saracene
Sixteenth-century watchtowers on the seafront, built to spot Saracen and Barbary ships before they could land.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through June and September through October are the calmer summer-edge months on this coast. The Bandiera Blu beach is open, the sea is warm enough from June onward, and the centro storico is not yet packed. July and August bring crowds, especially from Piedmont and Lombardy, and the litoraneo fills shoulder-to-shoulder. The Capo Mele headland blocks afternoon wind, which is good for swimming and bad for ventilation in the caruggi. Winter is mild but most beach-side businesses close; the parish life continues and the Confraternita dei Disciplinanti keeps its calendar at the Maddalena oratory. The Trofeo Laigueglia, a road cycling classic, runs in late February or early March.