Monday, August 25, 2008

Learning to Love La Spezia: Mornings


Although only live 15 minutes away by car,  La Spezia can seem very far away from our little house on the hill overlooking the village of Lerici.  The Bay of La Spezia does a very good job at hiding it.  Yet,  "just around the corner" is a small city of about 100, 000 inhabitants that is slowly but surely is having some wonderful growth spurts.  

It has long been a starting point for people heading into Le Cinque Terre, Portovenere or Lerici - but finally the Spezzini are getting through their thick (and sometimes backwards) skulls, that the city has the potential to be a real hub for visitors.  Many of the old liberty style building have or are in the process of being restored to their original splendor, the port has been cleaned up and a new resort port is being built, new and quite good restaurants have been popping up (at a fraction of the cost in any of the destinations listed above), nice stores have arrived and two very fine museums are worth visits. 
 


My favorite time to visit La Spezia is the morning.  The city comes alive.  There is a positive energy in the air, plus it smells good: caffe, fresh pastries, flowers, produce and fish from the open air market (yes, fish can smell good!).  The morning market is held Monday-Saturday from 7am-1pm at Piazza Cavour.  On Fridays there is also the weekly market on Via Garibaldi where you can buy all sorts of fun stuff including gorgeous, inexpensive ceramics from Vietri and any household items you could possibly need.

It's all very exciting and I am looking forward to the continual growth of this uncovering gem!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photos! Grazie...

Gil said...

Beautiful photos! All I remember from a family vacation in that area of Italy was my trip to Pronto Soccorso! The Doctor was in one building and the xray department in another one. We rode in a former ambulance, doors didn't close, and we all were smoking during the ride. Turned out I had bronchitis, probably form air on the plane ride over and not the smoking!

Again, your pictures show a much nicer city than I remember.

karla and victor said...

Love your blog. I’m working on my dual (US/Italian) citizenship with plans to make Sarzana my future hometown.

Anonymous said...

i just discovered you blog and love it. I've been scoping out expat in italy blogs for the past year and a half and i really love reading them!

i wish i had spent more time in la spezia...of course my time there was just in their train station on our way to monterosso like most visitors!

Anonymous said...

Oh fun! Thanks for sharing. One more thing on my "to see" list.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Definetly a place to go and see!! One more place in Italy on my list :-)

Great photos!!

'A Tuscan view.....from Umbria' said...

That looks like a great market, one of my favourite ways to spend a morning. I so enjoy discovering Liguria through your lovely blog. Have a good weekend. Amanda

Rosa said...

Glad to find your blog.
I have fond memories of La Spezia. I visited my aunty there when I was in my early twenties (a life time ago) and loved it. Lerici has romantic memories too.

Em and GC said...

It looks absolutely beautiful!! I have to make it a "must" see spot on my list of weekend places in Italy!

- Susan - said...

Hi,
I just spent the weekend in via Militaria overlooking Lierci... funny to discover your blog just right after it.
I love Liguria! You are sooo lucky!
Beautiful views, great air, delicious food and wine and it is all so clean like Switzerland and warm and sunny like Cote d'azur...