What is Ameglia known for?

Episcopal fief from the diploma of Otto I in 963 until the fifteenth century, the southernmost outpost of the Luni diocese. Boccaccio places the poet at the Santa Croce del Corvo monastery in 1314, the first documented Dante stay on the Ligurian coast. River-meets-sea wetland and marina at Bocca di Magra, Punta Bianca and Punta Corvo headlands on the Gulf of Poets edge.

When is the best time to visit Ameglia?

Apr–Oct. April through June and September to October bring the river's best months: clear estuary water, the headland walks down to Punta Corvo manageable, marinas at Bocca di Magra not yet at summer capacity. July and August fill the river mouth with summer boats from across the Gulf of Poets, and the road down from the borgo backs up on weekends. The Sagra del Pesce in mid-August draws thousands. November through March is quiet. The hilltop borgo stays mild enough for outdoor walking on most winter days, and the marshes attract migratory birds through the cold months. February is when Magra mussels are at their best in the local trattorias.

Ameglia is a comune in the province of La Spezia, Liguria region of Italy, about 68 kilometers from Pisa.

How do I get to Ameglia?

From Pisa, Ameglia is roughly 68 km by road.

Liguria · La Spezia

Ameglia

A hilltop borgo above the mouth of the Magra, the Lunigiana edge of Liguria where the river meets the Gulf of Poets.

Known for

BISHOPS OF LUNI
Episcopal fief from the diploma of Otto I in 963 until the fifteenth century, the southernmost outpost of the Luni diocese.
DANTE AT BOCCA DI MAGRA
Boccaccio places the poet at the Santa Croce del Corvo monastery in 1314, the first documented Dante stay on the Ligurian coast.
MAGRA ESTUARY
River-meets-sea wetland and marina at Bocca di Magra, Punta Bianca and Punta Corvo headlands on the Gulf of Poets edge.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Pasquale Baylón, 17 May

Why come

The Magra was the Roman Macra, the eastern boundary of Liguria, and the hill at Ameglia stands on the border between Lunigiana and the Riviera where that river reaches the sea. Genoa bought part of the fief in 1141, the bishops took it back by 1284, and Castruccio Castracani of Lucca conquered it in 1321: a small fortress passed between larger powers for three and a half centuries before it settled into the shape it now has. The marina at the river mouth is a separate world from the hill town above it.

Where the castle and its concentric streets sit on the summit, the frazione at the water is a former fishing village, flat, tied to the tide and to summer moorings rather than to the bishops who once held the heights. The two headlands south of that marina are reachable only by boat or steep footpath, cut off from the estuary settlement by their own geography rather than by distance. The town, in effect, is two places joined by the same river: a fortified height that answered to Luni and Genoa, and a working shoreline that answered to the sea.

We've been

Feature from our free newsletter

Magra Delta Roadtrip | A Tagine, a Lighthouse, and a Dead Roman City

It has the best panorama in Liguria, full stop, and I do not think it is close. The reasons are two. The first is the obvious one. You are 266 meters up, the cliff is high enough that there is no rocky beach below to draw a crowd, the sea on one side is the Gulf of La Spezia with Portovenere across the water and the Cinque Terre fading north, and the view on the other side is the Magra running into its delta with the white Apuane behind it and Tuscany beyond.

From the Ameglia letter, June 2026

Read the full feature on anywhereitaly.com

What to see

Castello di Ameglia
Rebuilt in 1174 on a tenth-century footprint, episcopal fortress of the bishops of Luni, cylindrical keep above the Magra estuary.
Centro storico di Ameglia
Concentric medieval streets around the castle, twelfth and thirteenth-century houses with stone arches and external staircases.
Bocca di Magra
Old fishing village and marina at the river mouth, summer mooring for small craft, departure point for Punta Corvo by sea.
Punta Bianca and Punta Corvo
Two headlands south of Bocca di Magra, white-stone and dark-pebble beaches, reachable on foot from Montemarcello or by boat.
Santa Croce del Corvo
Former monastery at Bocca di Magra cited by Boccaccio as Dante's stop in 1314, now a Carmelite study and conference centre.

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Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Mercato Settimanale Di Amegliamarket
usually held in August. eventiesagre.it

Living here

Population 4,293
In-betweeni
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Nearest airport Florence / Pisa, 1 h 9 min drive
Regional capital Genova, 1 h 29 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 89 m
Population: 4,293
Surface area: 14.17 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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