Lerici

Lerici lies on a magnificent natural inlet, the Gulf of La Spezia, which is also home to the city of the same name and to the town of Porto Venere.

Its nickname, the “Gulf of Poets,” comes from the many famous people who stayed here: writers of the stature of D. H. Lawrence, George Sand, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley; Italian figures such as Gabriele D'Annunzio, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Mario Soldati and Indro Montanelli; and even the painter Sandro Botticelli, who, some say, set The Birth of Venus (one of the most famous works of art in the world) in what was once also called the Gulf of Venus.

The little village of Lerici has charming colorful houses and a lovely square on the sea, and on the rock above the inlet stands a beautiful castle, now a museum. The area is also especially appealing for its nature: from the clear sea that has earned the Blue Flag (an award for the most beautiful and cleanest beach resorts) to a vast protected area of Mediterranean scrub, the Montemarcello-Magra Regional Nature Park.

In the Middle Ages Lerici belonged to Genoa, until in 1241 the Pisans took it after winning the naval battle off the island of Giglio. Thirteen years later, however, the Genoese managed to win back the lost territory, starting with the castle and the harbor.

The village was then fought over by Guelphs and Ghibellines in the 13th century: the hatred between them was sparked, according to Dante in the Divine Comedy, by the failed alliance between the Buondelmonti and the Amidei over a marriage that never happened. Later came the French of the Napoleonic era, who brought Lerici under their rule, and finally the Kingdom of Sardinia and then the Kingdom of Italy.

One of the events the locals hold dearest is certainly the feast of Saint Erasmus: on the first Saturday of July a long procession, with very striking illuminations, celebrates this patron saint of sailors. Those who watch it can follow the journey of the wooden statue, which the procession carries onto a ferry followed by boats decked out for the occasion: fireworks mark the end of this magical event.