Liguria · Imperia
Sanremo
The capital of the Italian Riviera dei Fiori: Belle Époque casino and palm-lined Lungomare on the seafront, a medieval labyrinth climbing the hill behind, and a year-round mild climate that built the original Northern European winter trade.
- Best time
- Year-round
- By car
- 1 h 59 min from Genoa
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 52,787
Known for
MUSIC
Festival della Canzone Italiana, the Italian pop song contest run at the Teatro Ariston every February since 1951.
CASINO
1905 Belle Époque casino, one of only four legal casinos in Italy, and a Liberty-style landmark in its own right.
CYCLING
Finish line of the Milano-Sanremo Classicissima, the longest one-day race on the professional cycling calendar (since 1907).
FLOWERS
Capital of the Riviera dei Fiori; the surrounding hills supply carnations, roses and ranunculus to the European market via the Mercato dei Fiori.
When to visit
Best · Year-round
- J13°
- F14°
- M15°
- A17°
- M21°
- J26°
- J28°
- A29°
- S25°
- O21°
- N17°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 27° and coldest in February at 14°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Romolo di Genova, 13 October
Why come
Sanremo is the largest town between Imperia and the French border. The site was settled by the Romans, and the name almost certainly contracts Sant'Eremo, after a 5th-century hermit named Romolus. The modern city, though, was made by two later waves of wealth: Russian and English aristocracy who built winter villas along the seafront from the 1860s, and the Italian post-war music industry that fixed on the town from 1951 onward.
That history splits the town into two parts that still read separately today. La Pigna corkscrews up the hill behind the seafront in covered alleys and stone stairs, a medieval settlement turned in on itself. Below and along the water, the Lungomare Imperatrice and the quarter around it were built outward and open, laid out for a foreign wintering elite rather than for defense.
The hills behind both feed a flower trade for the European market, carnations, roses, ranuncoli, farmed in the agricultural quarter around the Mercato dei Fiori, part of the Spighe Verdi rural-quality network. Old Sanremo climbed the hill to defend itself; new Sanremo spread along the shore to be seen, and the town today is the sum of a hillside built inward and a seafront built outward toward the visitors who financed it.
The Sunday letter
Sanremo is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Sanremo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.
Read on
Sanremo in our articles
How to get there
From Genoa (GOA), about 2 hours by car.
Turin (TRN) is about 3h 9m away.
By car from the centre of Milan 3h 17m.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Genoa?
What to see
La Pigna (centro storico)
Covered alleys and stone stairs stack up the hillside behind the seafront, the layout giving the quarter its name, pinecone in Italian. The climb ends at the Madonna della Costa sanctuary.
Casinò Municipale
The building itself is a Liberty-style landmark on Corso degli Inglesi, its facade and interiors built to draw a Northern European winter clientele to the tables.
Lungomare Imperatrice
Palm-lined seafront promenade named for the Russian Empress Maria Aleksandrovna, who wintered in Sanremo in the 1870s. Bracketed by the casino and the Russian Orthodox church.
Cristo Salvatore (Chiesa Russa)
Three onion-domed cupolas in classical Russian style mark the western end of the Lungomare, built for the Russian winter colony that gave the seafront its aristocratic character.
Teatro Ariston
The festival moved here in 1977, two decades after its founding at the Casinò; the theatre has since become the fixed point of the Italian pop music calendar each February.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Sanremo 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.
We recommend
Where to eat and stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
BabeufBistrot
Babeuf has one Gambero Rosso table to its name.
La PigneseRistorante
La Pignese carries a Gambero Rosso listing.
Paolo e BarbaraRistorante
Paolo e Barbara has two Gambero Rosso forks (82/100) to its name.
SoulBistrot
Soul has two Gambero Rosso tables to its name.
Royal Hotel SanremoHotel
Royal Hotel Sanremo carries a Leading Hotels of the World listing, plus a place on Italy's historic-locali register.
Europa Palace SanremoHotel
Europa Palace Sanremo has a place in the Michelin hotel guide to its name.
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.
Mercatini artigianato a Sanremomarket
usually held in September. MangiareInLiguria - Sagre ed Eventi
Living here
- Population 52,787
- A local hubi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Genoa, 1 h 54 min drive
- Regional capital Genova, 1 h 59 min drive
Common questions
- What is Sanremo known for?
- Sanremo is the capital of the Italian Riviera dei Fiori: Belle Époque casino and palm-lined Lungomare on the seafront, a medieval labyrinth climbing the hill behind, and a year-round mild climate that built the original Northern European winter trade.
- Where is Sanremo?
- Sanremo is a comune in the province of Imperia, in Liguria, at 10 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Sanremo?
- Genoa (GOA), about 2 hours by car.
- Can you get to Sanremo without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Milan to Sanremo?
- About 3h 17m by car.
- When is the best time to visit Sanremo?
- Best in Year-round. August is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Sanremo?
- Yes. Mercatini artigianato a Sanremo. September is when the first of them falls.
- Which other towns are like Sanremo?
- Savona, Rapallo and Chiavari.
- How many people live in Sanremo?
- 52,787 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 10 m
- Population: 52,787
- Surface area: 55.96 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.
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