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LA SPEZIA, THE FASCINATION OF THE SEA

The town houses Italy\'s largest arsenal, and is closely linked to maritime traffic. Sea, culture and sport are the feathers in the cap of the La Spezia administrative centre, with an eye always directed to nautical tourism.

History

Ligurians, Etruscans, Romans, Genoese, Spaniards, and French: as centuries passed by, all these peoples were captivated by the fascination of the gulf of La Spezia. The Romans in particular considered the La Spezia gulf suitable for concentrating their armies. It would play this role  in the future too, when Genoa predominated as a mercantile port. After a brief visit to Spezia, in 1860 Count Cavour decided that Italy\'s largest Arsenal should be built there.  After the end of the second world war, the heavily damaged structures of the arsenal had to be rebuilt. The institution of the Port Authority is more recent history.

The city  and its monuments

La Spezia puts its stakes in a type of tourism that combines sea, culture and sport. In the field of art the town offers a real jewel: the Lia Museum, a building specifically restructured to house the collection of over a thousand piece, donated to the town by \'patron\' Amedeo Lia, an engineering expert.  Other museums worth a visit are the Technical Naval Museum, unique of its kind because it has many models of ships from the Italian navy, and the Formentoni Civic Museum, which offers an archaeological section, with pieces from the Bronze and Iron age, cinerary urns and Roman statues.
La Spezia also puts it stakes in nautical tourism, a sector full of potential not entirely exploited up to now. The small tourist ports, which have the advantage of having their wharf near the old town, the commercial streets and the restaurants, all abound in the La Spezia territory. The new small ports tend to obtain the qualifications to be competitive on the market, and satisfy the requirements of nautical sports people,  increasingly on the lookout for safe and functional moorings for themselves and their boats.

The geographical area

Among the chief attractions of this province, one can find places that are unique through their fascination, such as Lerici, Portovenere and Cinque Terre. Lerici is located at the eastern end of the "Gulf of Poets" dominated by the imposing castle. With its host of villas, gardens and beaches, it was the preferred holiday spot for the English Romantics. The climate makes the town a pleasant place to stay throughout the year. It has accommodation structures that include hotels of all categories, and many typical restaurants, beach service establishments and discotheques. Portovenere is a characteristic medieval village, loved by the tourists who visit it, for its simple but highly attractive landscapes, for the many colours of its tower-houses arranged in parallel rows and for its pleasant lanes. Finally, the Cinque Terre (five lands) are the region\'s leading National Park, with its villages climbing on the mountains that stand sheer above the sea and are a must for those who love nature and its enchanting landscapes.

Other cities nearby La Spezia

Deiva Marina · Ameglia · Castelnuovo Magra · Vernazza · La Spezia · Lerici · Levanto · Monterosso al Mare · Portovenere · Corniglia · Manarola · Riomaggiore ·