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Stemma di Sestri Levante

Liguria · Genova

Sestri Levante

The Tigullio town of two bays, split by a peninsula where a river once silted an island to the shore.

Known for

  • BAIA DEL SILENZIO

    The smaller of the two bays, ringed by pastel houses, named by the Ligurian poet Giovanni Descalzo in 1919.

  • HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

    The children's literature prize named for him has run here since 1967.

  • MARCONI

    The Italian Navy renamed the gulf in his honor after his 1933-1934 shortwave experiments on the peninsula.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J
  • F
  • M
  • A
  • M
  • J
  • J
  • A
  • S
  • O
  • N
  • D
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Why come

Sestri Levante sits at the head of the Tigullio gulf, forty kilometers southeast of Genova, on a former island the Gromolo river silted into a peninsula by the eighteenth century. Roman Segesta Tigullorum was the predecessor; the town joined the Republic of Genova in 1133. The peninsula splits the coast into two bays that face different ways and carry different names.

To the north lies the long beach known as the Bay of Fables, named by a television host in a 1950s broadcast for the Danish writer who stayed here in 1833. To the south lies the smaller, quieter bay, named by a Ligurian poet in 1919. Between them, on the high ground of the peninsula, stands the old watchtower where an inventor ran some of his most advanced shortwave radio work, work significant enough that the Navy renamed the gulf itself for him. A town this small holds a beach with a literary name, a bay with a poet's name, and a headland with an engineer's name, three separate claims to attention pressed into one stretch of coast shaped by a silted river.

We've been

Feature from our free newsletter

Tigullio Roadtrip | Four Versions of the Same Liguria

A steep hill falls into the sea. The houses are crammed on the slope and painted in bright colors because they are old, packed tight, and need help. There is a small port if the cove allows it and a bigger port if the cove is generous. There is a small piazza around a small church, with maybe four restaurants, three bars, and a gelato place. There is no space for a grand square, because there is no space for grand anything in Liguria.

From the Sestri Levante letter, June 2026

Read the full feature on anywhereitaly.com

Sestri Levante — photo 1
Sestri Levante — photo 2

What to see

  • Baia del Silenzio

    Smaller southern bay enclosed by colorful seventeenth- and eighteenth-century houses, named by poet Giovanni Descalzo in 1919.

  • Baia delle Favole

    Long northern beach and the Bandiera Blu stretch of the town, its name recalling Hans Christian Andersen, who looked out over the water from his inn.

  • Torre Marconi

    Old watchtower on the heights of the peninsula where Guglielmo Marconi carried out shortwave radio experiments in 1933 and 1934.

  • Basilica di Santa Maria di Nazareth

    Seventeenth-century parish basilica between the two bays, rebuilt in Baroque style with a high single-nave interior.

  • MuSeL

    Museum of Sestri Levante in the former Convent of the Annunciation, with archaeology, fine art, and rotating exhibitions.

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We recommend

Where to eat

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.

  • Le CantineRistorante

    One Gambero Rosso fork (79/100) for Le Cantine, and a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • Rezzano Cucina e VinoRistorante

    Rezzano Cucina e Vino holds one Michelin star and two Gambero Rosso forks (82/100).

  • Baia del SilenzioRistorante

    Baia del Silenzio holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • Balin Sestri LevanteRistorante

    Balin Sestri Levante holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • L' ArticioccaRistorante

    L' Articiocca holds a Gambero Rosso listing.

  • Olimpo dell'Hotel Vis à VisRistorante

    A Gambero Rosso listing, at Olimpo dell'Hotel Vis à Vis.

  • Pasticcerie RossignottiPasticceria

    Pasticcerie Rossignotti has a place on Italy's historic-locali register 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.

Living here

  • Population 17,349
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Genoa, 54 min drive
  • Regional capital Genova, 44 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 10 m
  • Population: 17,349
  • Surface area: 33.62 km²

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.

Close by

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🟦 Bandiera Blu

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