Alassio

Alassio curves around one of the finest bays on the Riviera di Ponente, where a sweep of golden sand meets a crescent of hills planted with olives and palms. Behind the beachfront, the Budello — a long medieval lane of shops and taverns — keeps the old town alive, while the tiled Muretto remembers the stars who made this coast famous.

Why visit

Alassio balances the two sides of a Ligurian holiday better than almost anywhere on this coast. The beaches are genuinely excellent — broad, sandy and family-friendly, facing south-west across the Bay of the Sun — yet the town is much more than a seaside resort. A British colony began wintering here in the 1870s and left gardens, villas and an English-language library behind; mid-century Italy added movie stars and a wall of signed ceramics that grew into an open-air artwork. Travellers come for easy swimming and aperitivo hours, for the wisteria-covered botanical garden on the hill, and for the pleasure of drifting along a shaded medieval lane with nowhere urgent to be. Couples have their own reasons: since 2007 the town has styled itself a city of lovers, with sculptures of sweethearts tucked into its corners.

Character and history

Alassio’s fortunes were made twice: first by the sea, then by the visitors. The old town grew as a fishing and farming borgo on the hillside above the water, its houses pressed along a single long carruggio. In 1875 two Scotsmen, George Henderson Gibb and General William Montagu Scott McMurdo, became the first Britons to winter here, buying land on the hill above the bay; the villas and terraced gardens that followed helped establish the Anglo-Mediterranean idiom that defines this stretch of Riviera, and the town’s long English connection survives in street names, gardens and galleries. The twentieth century brought Italian high society and, in the 1950s, a creative set that gathered around the Caffè Roma. In 1953 the bar’s owner, Mario Berrino, began tiling a garden wall with signed ceramics: Ernest Hemingway’s name was among the first, and the Muretto has collected autographs of artists, entertainers and sports figures ever since. The wall became the town’s emblem, inspiring beauty contests and carnival parades, and the little fish sculptures Berrino added are now a city symbol.

What to see

Start with the two icons. The Muretto of Alassio runs along Corso Dante Alighieri near the seafront, its tiles a roll call of twentieth-century celebrity; it is free, fun and oddly moving. Then plunge into Il Budello, the historic lane formed by Via XX Settembre, Via Vittorio Veneto and Via Brennero, lined with palazzi, boutiques, wine bars and craft shops — the town’s social spine from morning to midnight. Above the old town, the Collegiate Church of Sant’Ambrogio anchors Piazza Sant’Ambrogio as the parish church of the ancient borgo, and the hillside Church of Santa Croce is among the oldest religious buildings on the heights above town. Climb to the little Stella Maris Chapel for the classic panorama over the bay, and down at the water’s edge look for the Borgo Coscia Tower, a sixteenth-century defensive bastion that keeps watch, largely intact, by the shore. Art lovers should step into Palazzo Morteo on the Budello, home to both the Carlo Levi Art Gallery and the Richard Whateley West Gallery devoted to the English painter. But the town’s masterpiece is green: the Gardens of Villa della Pergola, twenty-two thousand square metres of terraced Anglo-Mediterranean planting rescued and restored over six years and crowned in 2022 as the most beautiful park in Italy. For walkers, the hillside Church of Sant’Anna ai Monti rewards the climb with quiet and views.

How to experience

Structure the day around the sea and the shade. Mornings suit the beach or the coastal walks; afternoons belong to the Budello’s shops and the gardens above town, when the light softens over the bay. Book the Villa della Pergola gardens ahead and go in spring, when Ruth Hanbury’s famous wisterias once drew poets and bishops to flowering-season parties and the wisteria season still transforms the pergolas. Eat Ligurian: trenette with pesto, anchovies from the nearby coast, farinata from a street counter, and a glass of Pigato from the Albenga plain. Evening means the passeggiata along the seafront, gelato in hand, followed by dinner in the old town’s lanes. The town’s calendar — from the Gran Cagnara carnival parade to summer concerts — rewards a look at the local programme when planning.

Practical planning

Alassio lies on the western Riviera about eighty kilometres from Genoa. The A10 motorway and the coastal railway both serve the town; the station sits just behind the seafront, an easy walk from the beaches and the Budello. High summer is busy and hot — book beaches and restaurants well ahead — while May, June and September offer warm sea with lighter crowds. The hillside lanes are steep, so combine car trips with walks down into the old town. Visit the gardens by reservation and check current times on their site; gallery and church openings vary seasonally, so consult visitalassio.com, the town’s official tourism portal, for the latest programme and details.

Nearby places

The Riviera di Ponente strings its towns along the coast within minutes of Alassio. Albenga, with its early Christian baptistery and medieval towers, lies just up the road; further west the sandy bays of Varigotti and the borgo of Finale Ligure with its walled quarter Finalborgo make classic day trips, as does the seafront medieval stage-set of Noli. Eastward, Savona anchors the coast towards Genoa.