Slow trip
4 slow days of nature and walking: Imola and Chiavari
The Romagna coast near Imola dissolves into salt marshes and medieval hilltop towns where the landscape shifts between flat lagoons and steep agricultural terraces. May's warm but not yet scorching weather suits long walks through Brisighella's gypsum quarries and the beech forests above Lavagna, where the Ligurian mountains drop steeply toward a rocky shoreline. You'll move between two bases, each offering different rhythms: inland routes through ceramic workshops and quiet valleys, then coastal paths where you descend through lemon groves toward small harbors still arranged around fishing traditions.
4 days · May · nature & walking-first · moderate walking
Imola
Imola, 1 day
Base yourself in Imola and make these your day trips.
4 towns · qualifying pool of 6 from 28 candidates
Coastal towns in the provinces of Ravenna and Ferrara. Bandiera Blu coast.
Getting around
Imola, your base, is on the rail network. 3 of the 4 towns in this corner have a railway station, so a car-free version of this corner is realistic. Check Trenitalia timetables before you commit a day: rural frequencies run thin, especially on Sundays.
Your timing
May sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.
While you're there
- Cervia — Sposalizio del Mare, MayAscension Day reenactment since 1445 where the bishop throws a ring into the sea to calm storms, marking the salt-harvest opening.
- Ravenna — Ravenna Festival, MayMay-to-July festival of opera, symphonic music, dance, theatre and jazz founded 1990 by Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, with Riccardo Muti's regular appearances.
- Brisighella — Brisighella Medioevale 1413, MayMedieval reenactment commemorating Battle of Pieve Thò with tournaments, jesters and taverns
Day 1 · Arrive in Imola
Settle in. Imola is your base for the next 1 day. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.
More options in this corner
Cervia
Province: Ravenna
The Adriatic salt town with 827 hectares of working saline, planned in 1697 around a grid of salt workers' houses.
Picked for: nature and walking · coastal · Sposalizio del Mare, May
Ravenna
Province: Ravenna
A 4-meter coastal capital of three successive empires, with eight UNESCO mosaic monuments from the fifth and sixth centuries.
Picked for: nature and walking · coastal · Ravenna Festival, May
Comacchio
Province: Ferrara
A canal town on thirteen islets, with brackish lagoons that hold three hundred bird species.
Picked for: nature and walking · coastal
Brisighella
Province: Ravenna
A Lamone-valley borgo at 115 meters under three selenite hills crowned by a fortress, a clock tower, and a sanctuary.
Picked for: nature and walking · plain · Brisighella Medioevale 1413, May
Chiavari
Chiavari, 3 days
Base yourself in Chiavari and make these your day trips.
6 towns · qualifying pool of 21 from 53 candidates
Coastal towns in the provinces of Genova, La Spezia, and Savona. Bandiera Blu coast and olive oil country.
Getting around
Chiavari, your base, is on the rail network. 6 of the 6 towns in this corner have a railway station, so a car-free version of this corner is realistic. Check Trenitalia timetables before you commit a day: rural frequencies run thin, especially on Sundays.
Your timing
May sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.
While you're there
- Camogli — Sagra del Pesce di Camogli, MayAnnual May fish fry in a giant 4-metre frying pan since 1952, honoring San Fortunato patron of fishermen.
Day 1 · Arrive in Chiavari
Settle in. Chiavari is your base for the next 3 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.
Day 2 · Day trip to Lavagna
First outing. Head to Lavagna for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Chiavari for dinner.
Day 3 · Day trip to Sestri Levante
Last day trip in this corner, to Sestri Levante. Make a day of it, then back to Chiavari.
More options in this corner
Levanto
Province: La Spezia
The sixth Cinque Terre, a beach town and Cittaslow at the gateway of the national park, with a surf break and a striped Gothic church.
Picked for: nature and walking · coastal
Camogli
Province: Genova
A fishing village on the Golfo Paradiso whose nineteenth-century fleet of a thousand white sails made it Italy's third maritime power in the Mediterranean.
Picked for: nature and walking · coastal · Sagra del Pesce di Camogli, May
Sarzana
Province: La Spezia
The unofficial capital of the Lunigiana on the Magra plain, birthplace of Pope Niccolò V.
Picked for: nature and walking · coastal
Varazze
Province: Savona
A Ligurian shipbuilding town whose thirteenth-century friar compiled the saint lives that became the most copied book in Europe after the Bible.
Picked for: nature and walking · coastal
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