Sanremo

Sanremo is the largest town between Imperia and the French border and the historic capital of the Riviera dei Fiori. The site was settled by the Romans (the name almost certainly contracts Sant'Eremo, after a 5th-century hermit Romolus), but the modern city was made by two waves of European wealth: the Russian and English aristocracy who built winter villas along the seafront from the 1860s, and the Italian post-war music industry that has used the Teatro Ariston as its annual anchor since 1951. The medieval old town La Pigna corkscrews up the hill behind the seafront in a series of covered alleys and stone stairs; at its top is the Madonna della Costa sanctuary with views back over the bay. The Lungomare Imperatrice, named for the Russian Empress Maria Aleksandrovna who wintered here, runs along the seafront under date palms; the Belle Époque Casinò Municipale and the Russian Orthodox Cristo Salvatore church bracket it at either end. The town's name is in the global cycling calendar as the finish of the Milano-Sanremo Classicissima, run since 1907 and the longest single-day race on the professional calendar. The hills behind grow flowers for the European market — carnations, roses, ranuncoli — and the agricultural quarter around the Mercato dei Fiori is part of the Spighe Verdi rural-quality network.