Pietra Ligure

Pietra Ligure sits between Loano and Borgio Verezzi on the Riviera di Ponente, twenty kilometers southwest of Savona. Neolithic finds on Monte Trabocchetto and Roman artifacts in the centro storico place settlement here back across millennia, long before the town took its present name and shape. That name comes from the Castrum et Oppidum Petrae, the fortress on the rock above the modern center, which became a summer residence from 1100 and was held until 1385, when it passed to the Republic of Genova.

The old town has grown up around two poles: the rock with its castle at one end, and the Baroque basilica at the other, with the palazzi of the civic and religious elite filling the ground between. The promenade now traces that same line at sea level, joining the historic center to a sandy beach that runs south toward Loano. Every three years the space between these poles, the central squares of the old town, fills with the floral carpets of the Infiorata, while a smaller annual version continues in the frazione of Ranzi. What the town shows a visitor, in effect, is a small stretch of coast where a medieval fortress, a plague-vow church and a modern floral tradition all sit within walking distance of one another.