There are some famous, beautiful, seaside towns along the Mediterranean shores of northwest
Italy, but you might be surprised and delighted by the less well-known, but ever glamorous
Santa Margherita Ligue, or as the locals call it, Santa. In many ways it's every bit as
impressive as the more famous sites such as Portofino and Cinque Terre – in some ways
it's even better. It's a little bit less touristic than many,
so it offers an authentic slice of Italian life, as you'll see. The main piazza, as usual,
is the center of life in the city. There are just locals, there's families, there's young
couples out, eating and drinking, having a good time. Here's an example of the low prices
and warm hospitality of the area, with this spritz, and all the snacks that came with
it, for just six euro. You pay for the drink and the snacks are free. And there's a big
supply of hotels and restaurants which are a bit less expensive than in the more famous
places of the region. Mostly locals out today. We were here in the off-season, in October,
so we had nice weather and the town was not crowded – easy to get a table at a restaurant,
and always lots of things to keep us busy, exploring the little pedestrian lanes, piazzas
and the waterfront of this charming city. In that casual Italian style, the laundry
hangs out the window, even on the main piazza. And notice the paintings on the buildings
-- it looks like three-dimensional carvings but it's all painted on in exquisite detail
to trick the eyes. It's a trompe l'oeil kind of effect, making the buildings look stately
and elegant, even with the laundry hanging in front. And there is no graffiti, which
is quite remarkable for an Italian city. The people here take very good care of their buildings,
and of each other, like this little brother bringing his big sister a drink.
This scene with the kids having fun, and the local townspeople walking around, is just
an example of how Santa Margherita Ligue is really a local place. It's less of a touristic
spot and more of authentic Italian small town experience. It's a safe place, it's a friendly
place, and yet it has a good variety of shops, and restaurants and hotels that can really
take care of the visitor. Extending directly in from the piazza are
the two main pedestrian lanes of town, Via Cavour and Via Palestro, and they are lined
with shops, and restaurants, and cafés, and lots of people out for a stroll, especially
now in late afternoon. It's the passeggiata, a time-honored tradition in which nearly the
whole town participates, out for a stroll. But it is not just any old walk. It's more
of an art form. People are not necessarily shopping, or going anywhere in particular.
It's a leisurely stroll to see their friends, and see who's wearing what, and maybe stop
for a chat. It's an expression of the feeling of having plenty of time, with leisure, and
ease in a relaxing way – something Italians learn to do from an early age.
You are going to see more of these pedestrian lanes and restaurants in the area near the
piazza later in the program, but for now we're going down to the waterfront and take a stroll
along the esplanade, a very popular gathering spot for the locals of all ages.
It seems to be lined with fully occupied benches from one end to the othe, set amidst this
beautiful green park, and there's the seawall, there's the marina with the boats off in the
distance, kids out playing. It's just a great spot to hang out. It looks like they're getting
a little stage ready for a performance. There are quite a few concerts and outdoor music
festivals that happen throughout the year here in Santa Margherita Ligue, including
occasional music recitals on the upper terrace of this castle, that was built in 1550 as
a defense against pirates. Further along the waterfront you are going
to see lots of boats of all kinds, and there is a beach. It's a pebble beach, but quite
popular, especially in the summertime. And there is a heroic statue in the waterfront
of Christopher Columbus, who is from Genoa just twenty miles away. He probably stopped
here on one of the shorter boat rides. We are located in the northwest of Italy along
the Ligurian coast, often called the Italian Riviera, with direct train connections to
Genoa and also Cinque Terre, providing convenient access.
With its affordable hotels and many delightful attractions, Santa Margherita makes a good
place to stay when you're visiting Portofino, just three miles away, and Cinque Terre, easily
reached in a one-hour train ride. We have other videos about those two places which
are wonderful to visit and we've got two other movies about Santa Margherita, but this program
is different, focusing more on the people, piazzas pedestrian lanes and the waterfront.
Many visitors to Santa Margherita arrive by rail. The train station is located right in
the town itself, and so if you're traveling light, you could most likely just walk from
the train station to your hotel. Most of the hotels are within 1/2 a mile, or at most,
one mile away. But in our case, traveling with a small group,
we have luggage, so we had van take it over to the hotel for us, and then we proceeded
to walk. As you'll see, it's only about a five-minute walk to get into the center of
town from here. From the station, you can walk right down to the waterfront and walk
500 meters that will bring you to the main piazza that we saw earlier.
And then continue walking to the other side of town, about 600 meters further, that'll
bring you right alongside the marina and the interesting commercial area with shops and
restaurants that we're going to explore with you right now.
This side of the city has a much different character, because it's really oriented towards
the waterfront, with the marina on the harbor out there, no beach or swimming on the side.
There's a lovely promenade that runs along the shore and the street with a lot of bars
and restaurants, but, no pedestrian zone extending inland. It has an authentic nautical charm
and some out-of-the-way restaurants that cater more to locals, especially nice with the view
of the waterfront from your table. It's a rather busy two-lane street with no
official parking spaces, just some room for scooters along the edge, and on the harbor
side, it has a nice wide sidewalk, with tables, and benches, and people out strolling.
Caffé Del Porto is a historical restaurant facing the harbor, open for breakfast, lunch
and dinner. You can have coffee, champagne, pick from their extensive wine list, or have
a beer. They provide a relaxed atmosphere where you
can just sit back and read your newspaper, or have a conversation with the waitress.
They offer take-away food so you could cross the street with it and have a seat with the
view of the marina. The city extends inland for several block,
s and you can see on that sign, there are some restaurants and hotels back here. It's
mostly a residential neighborhood, not a prime area for the visitor to explore, but I thought
I'd take a look anyway and see what's happening back here.
The architecture is rather plain, but typical and traditional of the region and there are
some arcades that were intriguing, leading into a little piazza. Again, note the painted
walls with the illusion of three dimensions. A walk through was mildly entertaining, but
the main action is happening out along the street. It's the road to Portofino, which
is only about three miles away. You could take a city bus, or you could even walk it.
The tables on this side are across the street from their restaurants, so the waiters have
to walk through traffic to bring your food and drinks to you. This south end of town
by the waterfront is a little bit more for the locals rather than the visitors, but you
can see this is definitely worth walking down to – get away from the main tourist center
by that main piazza we saw earlier and come on over. It's only about 600 meters away -- easy
to get here, walk around. You might see the fishermen bringing in the days catch to the
local customers on the dock. There is a charming waterfront park and promenade
with benches and landscaping, beautiful palm trees, statues and fountains. It's a safe
place for the local biker gang to hang out. Just be careful not to get in their way.
The waterfront is a center of social life, like an outdoor living room. It's a place
to relax, or to kick a soccer ball around. And it's a venue for folk shows and events
associated with competition, such as the half marathon.
I'll show you more of the harbor at sunrise later, but now we're going back inland to
see some restaurants, just across from the waterfront, starting with a row of very popular
pizzerias with delicious food and a casual atmosphere, and mostly local customers.
When they say pizzeria, it usually means a full-service restaurant with all sorts of
fresh pasta, and meats, and fish, and salads, and pizza. Notice how busy this place is,
and yet everybody is being very well taken care of with food and drinks on all the tables.
It was the most popular restaurant in town. What's the name of the restaurant? Da Gennaro,
it's a Pizzeria Da Gennaro. Uh-huh. And you're very busy. Very busy. Always busy?
Every day. Very popular. And dogs are always welcome. It's that kind
of an excellent restaurant with atmosphere, and great food, and decent prices, that you'll
want to go back here several times in your visit, even if you're just in town for three
nights, maybe have three meals, they've got a big menu. That's if you can get a table.
Otherwise, you have two other excellent choices on the same block. Right next door there is
Emilio's Ristorante pizzeria, and they too were excellent. This is where I was able to
get in and had a wonderful meal. I was looking for restaurants up in the pedestrian
zone, instead of here along this busy roadway, thinking that, oh, in the pedestrian zone
the atmosphere would be more charming, and it is, we'll take you there next, but these
three places, including Palma next to Emilio, were all excellent.
Then we'll continue back to that main piazza and pedestrian lanes where we started the
program. We'll do some more people watching, have a look at the shops, enjoy the ambience.
This town really is one of the jewels of the Italian Riviera, and while it might not be
the gilded and glamorous jet set spot of some other famous Italian towns, it's just as good
as any of them. You'll find a restful tranquility in this old-fashioned kind of resort, not
smothered by tourism. And to complete our walk through this wonderful pedestrian zone,
I'll bring you to my personal favorite restaurant in the city, where I enjoyed a lovely meal
with my group. We've been traveling together for three weeks, starting from our homes in
Hawaii, and flying to Barcelona and then traveling through the south of France by train, enjoying
many fine restaurants along the way – so nice for me to be back again.
Hey, hey. How are you? How are you doing? Good to see you. Hello. Yes. How many years
before? Yeah, four, four years ago. Four years ago. Hello Hawaii. [laughter]
Ristorante da Michele, da Michele. You are very welcome, dear friend.
They invited me back into the kitchen, once again, as they did in my previous visit, to
say hello to the chef Michele. It's a family-owned and operated restaurant. Muscles are one of
the specialties here, along with the red gambas shrimp, lightly cooked and peeled, a light
pasta with lobster aragosta, with the daughters managing and serving the food. Maybe try grilled
calamari, or scallopini Marsala. And sitting out on the piazza with friends makes the experience
perfect. sea bass ala pizzaiolo, fresh tomatoes, capers,
olives, oregano Our friendly waiter, Bush was happy to not
only bring the food promptly but explain what we’re getting.
And then to top it all off some people had room for a pannacotta desert. Then it's time
to call it a night. Thank you very much, Mr. Bush. See you again.
Take care. The next morning I was greeted with a view
of sunrise from my hotel room looking out across the marina.
As you can see, the sunrise view is particularly attractive. It's not that often that you can
enjoy such as sight right out in front of your hotel, so you should take advantage and
wake up early to catch the light show, especially with the beautiful lighting over the tranquil
boat harbor here. And then you can have a leisurely breakfast at your hotel starting
usually from about 7 AM. We are staying at the Laurin Hotel, and it's
four stars, and it's right on the waterfront, great location just a hundred meters away
from the center of town where you got all the restaurants, and the piazza, the pedestrian
lanes, the passeggiata in the evening. The hotel breakfast is just what you would
hope to find in a very nice four-star hotel in Italy – a big spread there, with their
cold cuts, your meats and cheeses, there's rolls and fruits of course, there's yogurts
and coffee. Fresh brewed coffee, cappuccino.
There are different kinds of beverages available. And it's a very nice setting. We have tables
with a view looking out at the waterfront just right across the street, just ideal.
The large marina and harbor is dotted with lots of sailboats and sleek motorboats, and
there are some working fishing boats as well, pleasure craft of various kinds, and charter
excursion boats, and ferry boats that regularly bring passengers back and forth along the
coastline in the season – not so much passenger traffic like that in the winter.
But during the summertime, and spring and fall, you can take a boat from here over to
Portofino -- it's very close, it just takes fifteen minutes to get there.
The waterfront has always been important to this town, which got started thousands of
years ago as a small fishing village, then it became more of a trading center, it was
attacked by the Saracens in the tenth century, it was attacked by Venice in the 1400s, and
it was acquired by the Republic of Genoa, until Napoleon arrived in 1812 and renamed
it Porto Napoleone. He built the road along the coast to Portofino.
Already, some wealthy families from Genoa had been building their luxurious summer residences
here, grand stately homes, and by the early 1800s foreigners began arriving as visitors,
especially English people, who were charmed by the climate, the sea, and nature, and began
arriving in large numbers, which changed the character of the coast.
By the mid-nineteenth century, Santa had become a spa, similar to the very popular thermal
spas of the day, but in this case it was the ocean bathwater spa that consisted of rapid
immersion in the water, a quick dip, no swimming, no sunbathing. It was just considered to be
a medical treatment that was good for your health.
In those days, travel was for the very wealthy who enjoyed luxurious facilities of villas,
and exclusive hotels, and social clubs. This all started to change with the growth of tourism
brought on by the railroad, which came here in 1868, and more hotels began to flourish.
By the early twentieth century tourism had established itself as the main economic activity.
Tourism greatly increased with an expanded road system that enabled growing use of the
automobile and was further accelerated with transcontinental flights.
The 1930s was a Golden Age for Santa, with an elitist environment, large numbers of visitors
taking longer stays, including many famous Hollywood entertainers such as Clark Gable,
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Yves Montand and Simone Signoret.
In our modern era with increased competition from hundreds of other places that became
easily accessible, and mass tourism became based on shorter visits, the glow of Santa
diminished, but it has retained its elegantly retro charm, with an unspoiled beauty.
This visit to Santa Margherita Ligue is part of our larger tour that also visits Portofino
and Cinque Terre, and we have many more episodes showing you those wonderful places, providing
an in-depth look at this beautiful region. We frequently upload new movies so please
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