|
finale ligure |
| Busy FINALE LIGURE is overtly committed to tourism, yet it manages
to remain attractive. The majority of tourists are Italian families;
only around 10pm on summer nights does the place come alive, as people
pack the outdoor restaurants, seafront fairground and open-air cinema,
while an extended passeggiata fills the promenade and the old alleys.
There are three parts to the town. Finalmarina is the main bit, with the
train station at its western end, a good pebbly beach, a promenade lined
with palms, and narrow shopping streets set back from the seafront that
hold the tourist office at Via San Pietro 14 (Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm &
3.30-7pm, Sun 9am-noon; tel 019.681.019, www.italianriviera.com ). The
bars in the vicinity of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II and the adjoining
Piazza di Spagna, the main public space in the centre of this spread-out
resort, are the points to which everyone eventually gravitates. Finalpia
is a small district five minutes' walk to the east on the other side of
the River Sciusa focused around the twelfth-century church of Santa
Maria di Pia (rebuilt in florid early-eighteenth-century style) and its
adjacent sixteenth-century cloistered abbey. Finalborgo is a medieval
walled quarter set on a slight hill 2km inland from Finalmarina and
overlooked by bare rock-faces that are a favourite with free climbers,
who gather at Bar Gelateria Centrale in Finalborgo's Piazza Garibaldi at
weekends. The area's wider fame comes from the Grotte delle Arene
Candide , among Europe's most important caves for prehistoric remains;
they're closed for excavation, but some finds are on display at the
Museo Civico in Finalborgo's church of Santa Caterina (June-Sept Tues-Sat
10am-noon & 3-6pm, Sun 9am-noon; rest of year slightly shorter hours;
L5000/¬2.58). The same church hosts an interesting bric-à-brac and
antiques market on the first weekend of each month during summer. In high season virtually all the hotels insist on full pension, and you'd do better staying up the coast at Noli , unless you opt for the Castello Wuillermin HI hostel which occupies an old castle high above the train station at Via Caviglia 46 (tel 019.690.515, hostelfinaleligure@libero.it ; L20,000/¬10.33; mid-March to mid-Oct). Eurocamping is a well-run riverside campsite at Via Calvisio 37 in Finalpia (tel 019.601.240; April-Sept). The best places to eat need some hunting out. Da Tonino , Via Bolla 5, has outside seating and good pizzas. Gnabbri , next to the church of San Giovanni Battisti at Via Pollupice 1 (closed Thurs) is a friendly trattoria whose atmosphere and reasonably priced menu feels a million miles away from the brash seafront pizza parlours. Up in Finalborgo is Ai Torchi , Via dell'Annunziata 12 (tel 019.690.531; June, July & Sept closed Tues; Aug open daily; Oct-May closed Mon & Tues; also closed Jan), occupying an ancient olive-oil factory and serving expensive pasta and fish dishes with care and some style. The tourist office has information on picturesque inland walks , the Sentieri Parlanti , which zigzag across the hills past the excellent mid-priced La Briga restaurant (tel 019.698.579; closed Tues & Wed and in winter), where you can fill up on ortica (nettle) and tartufo nero (black truffle) lasagne. You can rent mountain-bikes on Via Brunenghi in Finalborgo - from Raceware at no. 124, and R.C. Bike at no. 65. |