Liguria · La Spezia
Deiva Marina
A Riviera di Levante seaside commune reachable by sea only after the 1874 railway.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Deiva Marina is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
The nearest town with a letter is Sestri Levante, No. 28, 16 min by car.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 50 min from Genoa
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 1,291
- J12°
- F13°
- M15°
- A17°
- M21°
- J25°
- J28°
- A29°
- S25°
- O21°
- N16°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° and coldest in February at 14°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
The commune sits at the bottom of a valley running from Monte San Nicolao, eight hundred meters up, down to the Ligurian Sea, fifty kilometers east of Genoa. The territory is first documented in a Carolingian imperial diploma of 774, but for most of its history the settlement stayed inland: the coastal plain flooded, and Barbary raids made the shore too exposed to live on. The villages up the slope were the town.
The seafront had no fixed population until the railway reached it, and the seafront that grew up afterward, around the station and a hotel called Albergo Savoia, is a nineteenth-century addition to a place whose real age lies up the hill. The round watchtower near the sea was partly demolished by a flash flood in 1852, a reminder that the coast it guarded was never entirely tame even after settlement arrived. What the geography adds up to is a town in two pieces on two timelines: an old, defended, inland Deiva that predates the sea by centuries, and a young shoreline that only exists because a railway made the coast safe to build on.
How to get there
From Genoa (GOA), about 59 min by car.
Pisa (PSA) is about 1 h 25 min away.
By car from the center of Pisa 1 h 16 min or Parma 1 h 46 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Genoa, Pisa or Florence?
Coming by train into Genova Piazza Principe? Deiva Marina is about 56 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Genoa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Torre Saracena
The square tower stands beside the church, its stone weathered, a lookout post scaled to a coastline once undefended by anything larger.
Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate
Still the parish church, standing in what was the original inland centro storico before the seafront existed, dedicated to the Egyptian hermit.
Spiaggia di Deiva Marina
Shallow sand and shingle running below the railway station, wide enough that the crowds it draws spread rather than crush.
Sentiero verso Framura
Three kilometers of path laid on a disused rail bed, tracing the coast south at the flat, even grade a railway once needed.
Frazioni inland
Mezzema, Piazza, Passano and Caraschi sit up the slope, medieval villages that were the whole of the settlement before anyone lived by the water.
Living here
Could you live here?
Deiva Marina is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,291. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Sestri Levante, is 16 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- La Spezia, a city of 92,706, is 41 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 1,291, down 8.8% since 2015
- Nearest city La Spezia, 41 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Sestri Levante, 11 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €2,150 to €3,900 per m² to buy, €5.50 to €9.50 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 95% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Genoa airport (GOA), 59 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Market day Saturday
- Regional capital Genoa, 50 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Albania, against 9% across Italy. There are 384 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 74% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. La Spezia province ranks 42nd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Lavagna, 15 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Genoa, 56 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in La Spezia, 27 km away. The nearest IB school is The International School in Genoa, 46 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.5% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €7,500. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Liguria spends about €2,230 a month, €490 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €552 a year for water, on the Liguria average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 5% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 10% in a high or medium one. 14% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
TWO SARACEN TOWERS
Square and round watchtowers from the sixteenth century, defence against Barbary raids, both on the commune's coat of arms.
1874 RAILWAY
The Genoa-La Spezia line opened the seafront to settlement for the first time, creating modern Deiva Marina around the station.
SAND BEACH
Longest stretch of bathing beach between Sestri Levante and the Cinque Terre, the reason the commune draws Genovese summer crowds.
Common questions
- What is Deiva Marina known for?
- Deiva Marina is a Riviera di Levante seaside commune reachable by sea only after the 1874 railway.
- Where is Deiva Marina?
- Deiva Marina is a comune in the province of La Spezia, in Liguria, at 12 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Deiva Marina?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Genoa (GOA), about 59 min by car.
- Can you get to Deiva Marina without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Pisa to Deiva Marina?
- About 1 h 16 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Deiva Marina?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Deiva Marina?
- Laigueglia, Borgio Verezzi and Moneglia.
- How many people live in Deiva Marina?
- 1,291 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Deiva Marina a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Deiva Marina is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Sestri Levante, is 16 min away. The nearest city, La Spezia, is 41 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Sestri Levante, 11 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 95% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 12 m
- Population: 1,291
- Surface area: 14.09 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Deiva Marina appears in
- The best hidden coastal towns in the province of La SpeziaLa Spezia provincecoastalhidden6 towns · smallest 553 residents
- The 7 best towns you can reach by train in the province of La SpeziaLa Spezia provinceby train7 towns · smallest 553 residents
- The prettiest villages in the province of La SpeziaLa Spezia provinceprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 553 residents
- The 9 prettiest villages you can reach by train within 90 minutes of GenoaNear Genoaby trainwithin 90 minprettiest villages9 towns · smallest 192 residents · closest 40 min away
- The best small coastal towns you can reach by train in LiguriaLiguriacoastalby trainsmall10 towns · smallest 553 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 28.
Sestri Levante
Province: Genova
The Tigullio town of two bays, split by a peninsula where a river once silted an island to the shore.
16 min by car
- Written about. No. 57.
Brugnato
Province: La Spezia
The medieval ecclesiastical capital of an inland Ligurian valley, seat of a diocese from 1133 to 1820, with a co-cathedral built over a Columban monastery.
16 min by car
- Written about. No. 54.
Monterosso al Mare
Province: La Spezia
The westernmost and largest of the five villages, where Eugenio Montale spent the childhood summers that became Ossi di seppia in 1925.
13 km away
Our guide
Deiva Marina is in our Riviera di Levante guide
Riviera di Levante: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Riviera di Levante guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The coast in the shadow of five villages. 19 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.