What is Varazze known for?

Jacopo da Varagine, born here around 1228, compiled the Latin saint lives that became Europe's most copied book after the Bible. Medieval port of the marquisate of Bosco that built the boats fought over by Savona and Genova; the yachting industry runs on the same ground. Mount Beigua at 1,287 meters and its UNESCO Geopark sit directly behind the beach, an unusual coast-to-mountain gradient.

Varazze is a comune in the province of Savona, Liguria region of Italy, about 45 kilometers from Genova.

Liguria · Savona

Varazze

A Ligurian shipbuilding town whose thirteenth-century friar compiled the saint lives that became the most copied book in Europe after the Bible.

45 km / 28 mi

Nearest hub (Genova)

12,534

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Bandiera Blu

Why come

Varazze sits between Mount Beigua and the sea, 30 kilometers west of Genova in the Riviera di Ponente. The town grew around the Roman station of Ad Navalia and became the main port of the marquisate of Bosco, disputed for centuries between Savona and Genova because of its shipyards. Jacopo da Varagine was born here around 1228 in the Casanova district. As a Dominican friar and later archbishop of Genova, he compiled the Legenda Aurea, a Latin collection of saint biographies that survived in roughly 1,400 manuscript codices through the Middle Ages, second only to the Bible in circulation. The parish Collegiate Church of Sant'Ambrogio holds a panel by Luca Cambiaso, one of the greatest Ligurian painters of the sixteenth century. Mount Beigua rises to 1,287 meters at the town's back. The economy still works shipyards, yachting and tourism in roughly that order.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Varazze fits in a slow Italy circuit.

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

Gallery

6 photos · scroll →

Known for

Chiesa Collegiata di Sant'Ambrogio
Parish collegiate church with Romanesque-Gothic three-mullioned bell tower, Baroque façade, polyptych by Giovanni Barbagelata and a panel by Luca Cambiaso.
Parco Naturale del Beigua
UNESCO Geopark covering Mount Beigua at 1,287 meters, the highest peak in the range, with trails connecting the coast to the entroterra.
Centro storico
Medieval grid behind the shipyards with surviving sections of the old town walls and the Casanova district where Jacopo da Varagine was born.
Lungomare Europa
Long seafront promenade along the Riviera di Ponente coast, Bandiera Blu beach, marina at the eastern end.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the best months on the Varazze coast. Mount Beigua shelters the town from north winds, so the climate stays mild well into autumn. July and August are warm and crowded, with the beaches filling and the Beigua trails busy. November through March is quiet but open: the shipyards run year-round, the marina stays active, and the Beigua Geopark trails are walkable on dry days. Winter storms can shut the lungomare for short stretches. The seafood seasons follow the Ligurian rhythm: anchovies in late spring, octopus and squid through summer, into autumn.