Chiavari

The black arcades of Chiavari, the straight medieval lanes in dark stone, have lined up shops, cafés and focaccia bakeries for eight centuries in one of the finest covered walks in Liguria; and they did not come about by chance, because from 1368 Genoa moved the craftsmen there, taking them away from the street of the patricians, while the alleys running down to the sea were left to the poorer families. The town of the Tigullio is also the home of the Chiavari chair, the featherweight invented in 1807 that seduced the courts of Europe and the designers of the twentieth century. But somebody was here long before: in 1959, while digging to build, a necropolis of the eighth century before Christ came to light, its tombs closed inside slabs of slate and, inside them, ornaments of gold, iron and bronze.

The strangest fact, though, concerns the Risorgimento: the fathers of Nino Bixio, of Giuseppe Mazzini and of Giuseppe Garibaldi were all born in Chiavari. And when Nice was ceded to France, it was precisely thanks to those origins that Garibaldi was able to take up citizenship of Chiavari, and so remain an Italian citizen. For the rest the town is one of antiques markets, of the palaces of the Chiavarese who came back rich from South America, and of the seafront promenade: a Liguria that is solid and well-bred, less shop window and more life. The inland valley of the Fontanabuona is a step away.