Liguria · La Spezia
Varese Ligure
The Val di Vara's medieval seat, the first European municipality with ISO 14001 certification, anchor of Italy's largest organic district.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Varese Ligure is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione.
The nearest town with a letter is Brugnato, No. 57, 30 min by car.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 10 min from Genoa
- Population
- 1,746
- J10°
- F11°
- M13°
- A16°
- M19°
- J23°
- J27°
- A27°
- S23°
- O19°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Varese Ligure sits in the upper Val di Vara, fifty kilometers east of Genoa. The Fieschi counts founded the borgo in the thirteenth century at the confluence of the Crovana and Gottero streams. The Borgo Rotondo, an ellipse of pastel houses with arcaded ground floors, was laid out as a planned market town for trade between the Po valley and the Ligurian coast: the inner ring stayed open as a marketplace, the outer ring as defensive wall.
The Castello dei Fieschi, two cylindrical towers and a central keep, anchors the upper end. In 1999 Varese Ligure became the first European municipality to receive ISO 14001 environmental certification. The Val di Vara Biodistretto, founded in 2006, now counts 95 organic producers across seven communes, with 60 percent of the certified agricultural area in Varese Ligure itself organic.
The dairy cooperative was the first in Liguria certified bio. The borgo carries Bandiera Arancione and Borghi più belli badges together.
How to get there
From Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 19 min by car.
Pisa (PSA) is about 1 h 42 min away.
By car from the center of Pisa 1 h 33 min or Parma 1 h 51 min.
Coming by train into Genova Piazza Principe? Varese Ligure is about 1 h 17 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Genoa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Borgo Rotondo
Thirteenth-century elliptical plan of pastel-fronted houses with arcaded ground floors enclosing two piazzas, laid out as a market ring.
Castello dei Fieschi
Fifteenth-century fortress at the upper edge of the borgo, two cylindrical towers and a central keep, residence of the Fieschi counts.
Chiesa dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo
Eighteenth-century parish church on the main piazza, Baroque interior, replaced an earlier medieval church on the same footprint.
Ponte di Grecino
Medieval stone bridge over the Crovana stream, on the route between the borgo and the upper Val di Vara villages.
Biodistretto Val di Vara
Italy's earliest organic district, founded 2006, 95 farms across seven communes, dairy cooperative the first bio-certified in Liguria.
Living here
Could you live here?
Varese Ligure is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,746. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Casarza Ligure, is 29 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- La Spezia, a city of 92,706, is 57 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 1,746, down 14.5% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city La Spezia, 57 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Sestri Levante, 16 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €950 to €1,400 per m² to buy, €3.50 to €5.00 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 50% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Genoa airport (GOA), 1 h 19 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Market day Tuesday
- Regional capital Genoa, 1 h 10 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and France, against 9% across Italy. 18 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly France. There are 455 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 61% 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, 18 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Genoa, 55 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in La Spezia, 35 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 0.99% 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 0.2% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €12,000. 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. 7% 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
BORGO ROTONDO
Thirteenth-century planned market town in an elliptical ring, pastel houses with arcades enclosing two interior piazzas.
FIRST ISO 14001
1999, the first municipality in Europe certified under the ISO 14001 environmental management standard, two decades before the conversation went mainstream.
VAL DI VARA BIO
Anchor commune of Italy's earliest organic biodistrict, 60 percent of certified agricultural land farmed bio, the dairy cooperative first in Liguria.
Common questions
- What is Varese Ligure known for?
- Varese Ligure is the Val di Vara's medieval seat at 358 meters, the first European municipality with ISO 14001 certification, anchor of Italy's largest organic district.
- Where is Varese Ligure?
- Varese Ligure is a comune in the province of La Spezia, in Liguria.
- What is the nearest airport to Varese Ligure?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 19 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pisa to Varese Ligure?
- About 1 h 33 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Varese Ligure?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 27 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 17 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Varese Ligure?
- Esanatoglia, Cantiano and Tenno.
- How many people live in Varese Ligure?
- 1,746 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Varese Ligure a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Varese Ligure is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Casarza Ligure, is 29 min away. The nearest city, La Spezia, is 57 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Sestri Levante, 16 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 50% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 358 m
- Population: 1,746
- Surface area: 137.59 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 Varese Ligure appears in
- The prettiest villages in the province of La SpeziaLa Spezia provinceprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 553 residents
- The best hill towns within 75 minutes of GenoaNear Genoahill townwithin 75 min8 towns · smallest 626 residents · closest 41 min away
- The 10 best hill towns within 90 minutes of GenoaNear Genoahill townwithin 90 min10 towns · smallest 192 residents · closest 41 min away
Near here, with a letter
- 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.
30 min by car
- 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.
33 min by car
- Written about. No. 25.
Chiavari
Province: Genova
The Tigullio capital between Portofino and the Cinque Terre, a 27,000-person Genoese trading town built around a thirteenth-century grid of porticoed streets.
22 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 43 km away
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.