Campiglia, La Spezia

Campiglia is a pleasant hillside village a few kilometres from the centre of La Spezia. Set on the promontory west of the town, its offers visitors the enchanting beauty of its vertical landscapes (the natural prolongation of the Cinque Terre), modelled through time by the fatigue of man.
Whether you get to this peaceful rural centre by car or by public transport (conveniently reaching the La Spezia railway station)…

feet will prove the most effective means of transportation in order to explore the area. A maze of trails, in fact, reaches numberless panoramic balconies over the Riviera di Levante, The Golfo dei Poeti, and the open sea. The ancient origins of Campiglia show in its half-circle layout,

 in its finely decorated houses (stone portals and stairs are the fruit of a long stone-cutting tradition) and in the 18th century tower that once hosted a wind mill, an ingenious solution, typical of the Riviera, to combine the exploitation of a vital power source with sighting and defensive exigencies.he parish church piazza, set in a panoramic position high on the mountain ridge (400 metres a.s.l.), is the starting point of paths and mule tracks that represent the trekker’s delight.

Campiglia stands along the trail from Portovenere to Levanto, once an important road connection, now the choice of excursionists challenging the Alta Via delle Cinque Terre. Numberless tracks head to hamlets and secluded sanctuaries, thousand of steep steps lead to the coast and to the wonder of miniature beaches. Enjoy the fasce of Tramonti, cultivated terraces that proudly exhibit the glory of grapes and saffron.

Autumn is the perfect season to inebriate with the delicate aroma of the flowers of this yellow gold and to get a preview of the year’s wines – this is a land of white wines, scenting of sea breeze and grass, not to forget a tasting of precious Sciacchetrà.Campiglia is the joy of gourmet travellers too: the cuisine du terroir relies on a thousand fish preparations (from salted anchovies to scabeccio, fried fish marinated into vinegar), saffron the secret touch in many a dish.