July 2007 - Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy - Thriving Rivieria Town

While still based in Vernazza, we took a day trip to Santa Margherita Ligure, the most substantial of the seaside towns along the eastern strip of the Italian Riviera. It was another gorgeous day - the blue sky was crisp and clear and the turquoise water was a glowing.
Santa Margherita is only a 20-minute train ride west of Vernazza. From the train station, we walked downhill towards the beautiful harbor filed with boats and lined with colorful buildings.

A long tree-lined promenade wraps around the harbor, behind which stand Santa Margherita's signature multi-colored buildings painted in the Liberty Style. Before 1900, the residents of Santa Margherita distinguished their homes and shops with pastel paint and distinctive door and window frames. Afterwards, they got fancy and painted the entire exterior of their buildings with false balconies, saints, muses, weapons and 3-D gothic elements.

On one side of the harbor, just off the promenade, is a beach with pebbly sand and protected by a jetty separating it from the marina side where all the boats are anchored or docked.

From the marina side of the jetty, you can see the colorful palazzi along the promenade as well as the villas dotting the hills.
Behind me is a fountain dedicated to Cristofer Columbus in the center of the Piazza Liberta.
We headed to the docks to inquire about taking a ferry to the nearby jet-set town of Portofino.

From here we had some of the best views of Santa Margherita.
We waited for the ferry on the dock, enjoying the glistening water and refreshing sea breeze.

Here we are on the ferry to Portofino (see next blog entry).
In the afternoon, we returned to Santa Margherita and toured the city and Parco Comunale Villa Durazzo. The views of the harbor and seaside town are spectacular from this hilltop public park.

The park is comprised of two distinct parts: the perfectly-coifed Italian garden and the wild English garden. Just behind the Italian garden, famous for its collection of palm trees, we saw the brightly painted Villa Durazzo.

Next to the villa, separated by a shaded area and a turtle pond and fountain, is the lavish Church of St. James.This church was built with the wealth that this town's aristocrats amassed from trade from the 11th to the 15th Centuries. When free trade in the Mediterranean stopped, upon the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, the Genovese traders who built their summer villas in Santa Margherita, became bankers and made even more money, giving rise to the popular saying of the day: "Silver is born in America, lives in Spain, and dies in Genoa."
We sat on a park bench in the shade and enjoyed the gorgeous views of the harbor for a while.

Afterwards, we headed back down the hill and explore more of the town. Here we are in the main square, Piazza Caprera, in front of the Church of Santa Margherita (Basilica di Nostra Signora).

This church is textbook Italian Baroque, with two tiers of columns, twin belltowers, dome and all. It's facade its facade is 18th Century while its interior is 17th Century.

We continued down Via Palestro, the main strolling street in town great for window-shopping, people watching and admiring the Liberty Style house painting, and headed to the train station.

Santa Margherita seemed to be the most authentic, least touristy and most liveable town, and overall our favorite, in the Italian Riviera.