Liguria · Savona
Toirano
A medieval village at the mouth of the Val Varatella, four kilometers inland from Loano, with karst caves holding 14,000-year-old human footprints.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Toirano is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione and Città delle Grotte.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 14 min from Genoa
- Population
- 2,718
- J12°
- F13°
- M15°
- A17°
- M21°
- J25°
- J28°
- A29°
- S26°
- 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
Toirano sits at the mouth of the Val Varatella, four kilometers inland from Loano on the Riviera di Ponente. The town's defining asset is underground: the Grotte di Toirano, a karst complex of four cavities discovered in 1950, two of them open to visitors. The Grotta della Bàsura preserves the bones of cave bears piled in a chamber called the Cimitero degli Orsi and a set of human footprints dated to roughly 14,000 years ago, made by five Homo sapiens and a dog walking together through the cave.
The village above the caves has the layout of a fortified borgo of the Genoese hinterland, with narrow streets, a thirteenth-century parish church, and a Museo Etnografico documenting the agriculture of the Varatella valley. The combination of cave science and coastal proximity sends roughly 70,000 paying visitors underground each year.
How to get there
From Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 9 min by car.
Turin (TRN) is about 2 h 21 min away.
By car from the center of Milan 2 h 32 min.
Coming by train into Genova Piazza Principe? Toirano is about 1 h 13 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Genoa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Grotte di Toirano
Karst cave complex of four cavities, two open to visitors, with concretions of stalactites and the cave-bear deposits of the Bàsura.
Grotta della Bàsura
Cave discovered in 1950, holding human and animal footprints dated to about 14,000 years ago and the Cimitero degli Orsi bear-bone deposit.
Museo Etnografico della Val Varatella
Civic museum on rural life in the Varatella valley, with tools, looms and reconstructions of farmhouse interiors.
Chiesa di San Martino
Parish church with thirteenth-century origins and later baroque rebuilds, on the main piazza of the centro storico.
Centro storico
Tight medieval village under the Varatella gorge, with stone arches across the lanes and stretches of preserved town wall.
Living here
Could you live here?
Toirano is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,718. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Loano, is 16 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Savona, a city of 58,581, is 48 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
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 2,718, up 1.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Savona, 48 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Pietra Ligure, 5 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,700 to €2,400 per m² to buy, €5.10 to €5.70 per m² a month to rent
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 97% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Genoa airport (GOA), 1 h 9 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Genoa, 1 h 14 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Albania and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. There are 201 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 33% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Savona province ranks 65th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Pietra Ligure, 5 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. It has a children's emergency room too. The nearest IB school is Deledda International School, 66 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.14% 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 0.8% to your income tax. 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 C, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 15 to March 31, up to 10 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 6% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 9% in a high or medium one. Under 1% 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
GROTTA DELLA BÀSURA
Karst cave with 14,000-year-old human footprints of five Homo sapiens and a dog, plus the Cimitero degli Orsi cave-bear deposit.
CAVE BEARS
The Ursus spelaeus bone field discovered in 1950, one of the largest deposits of the extinct European cave bear in Italy.
VAL VARATELLA
Karst valley behind the village, with climbing crags, the Museo Etnografico and walking routes into the hinterland of Loano.
Common questions
- What is Toirano known for?
- Toirano is a medieval village at the mouth of the Val Varatella, four kilometers inland from Loano, with karst caves holding 14,000-year-old human footprints.
- Where is Toirano?
- Toirano is a comune in the province of Savona, in Liguria, at 35 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Toirano?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 9 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Milan to Toirano?
- About 2 h 32 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Toirano?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Toirano?
- Moneglia, Noli and Borgio Verezzi.
- How many people live in Toirano?
- 2,718 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Toirano a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Toirano is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Loano, is 16 min away. The nearest city, Savona, is 48 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Pietra Ligure, 5 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 97% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 35 m
- Population: 2,718
- Surface area: 18.97 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.
Similar
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What all six share with Toirano: under 3,000 people · near sea level
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