Riccò was born to let other people rest. The name is thought to come from ricovero, shelter, or from the Latin caput rivi, head of the stream; either way there was a hospice here belonging to the parish of Pignone, with a resting place for wayfarers attached, and the village depended on the castle of Ponzò, a stop for soldiers and pilgrims on the road to upper Tuscany.
The other castle, the one at Carpena, backed Florence against Genoa in 1412: in reprisal Antonio Doria had it destroyed. This is the country behind the Gulf of La Spezia, in the val di Vara, and from the village a woodland path crosses the Sella della Cigoletta and drops down to Vernazza, on the sea of the Cinque Terre. The population is 3,537.
Chiesa di San Nicolò di Bari · Santuario di Nostra Signora dell'Agostina · chiesa di San Cristoforo and 1 more
Pesto alla Genovese
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Next up: Holy Cross, patroness of a village fought over by castles, Monday 3 May
Nearest airport: Pisa Galilei, 72 km away
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📅 Every year, on 3 May
Riccò del Golfo di Spezia celebrates Holy Cross on 3 May; the town was long a small dependency of the castle of Ponzò, while the nearby castle of Carpena was destroyed in 1412 in retaliation by Antonio Doria.
Chiesa di San Nicolò di Bari Carpena's parish church, its bell tower made from the castle's own tower. 
Santuario di Nostra Signora dell'Agostina The sanctuary in the woods above Riccò, named after the woman who willed it. 
chiesa di San Cristoforo In 1297 it was the «cappella de Podencolo»: seven altars and a vaulted nave above Ponzò. 
chiesa di San Benedetto Independent since 1569, on the hill above the gulf, with a 1666 Crucifixion by Casoni inside. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Riccò del Golfo di Spezia, but an easy day trip away.
