Liguria is, more than anything else, a long thin coastal stretch with mountains at its shoulders, and its entire complex of history, culture, and society is tied up to the sea and these geographical factors. And so the winds of Liguria are of great importance. There’s an easterly wind howling […]
sea
Levanto is a wonderful town for families … if it weren’t, my wife and I wouldn’t have uprooted our family from Parma to move here permanently. But more importantly, Levanto is a wonderful destination for families. It has a lot to offer. Clean water with beaches that slope gently into […]
There is a relatively new tradition in Levanto, going back 12 consecutive years, of diving into the Mediterranean at noon on New Year’s Day. It’s called “Il Cimento”, a word that I still have not been able to translate. Last year, for our first New Year’s in Levanto, we watched […]
I don’t remember the last time I was out on a pedalò, but I suspect I was just a kid, and the location was some kind of artificial lake in Connecticut or Texas or in Central Park for all I know. But I’ll admit, I wasn’t exactly bursting with […]
For those who fly across oceans to visit Italy and make the Cinque Terre one of their many stops on a grueling two-week European vacation, hitting the beach is not usually on top of their list of priorities. For those who have more time to spend in Italy, coming to […]
Five months of flat, glassy, waveless, imperturbable sea. The World Longboard Surfing Championships in Levanto came and went without a ripple on the water, leaving competitors listless and bored. The Mediterranean looked like a pond. Now, as it always has been and always will be, it is reborn. And it’s […]
Much consternation has been expressed by our friends and family members about our black cat Bagheera in her new home in Levanto. Whereas in Parma she was a pampered indoor-outdoor cat, coming and going as she pleased, at all hours of the day or night, often returning for nothing more […]
If you are receptive enough to all of the stimuli around you, and experienced or wise enough to filter out the white noise and focus on things of substance, you will frequently find yourself in contact with people of extraordinary personality or character. This morning, for example, I was visiting […]
Last week Tuesday, 8 days ago, just hours before the deluge that brought down an unbelievable amount of water and mud and suffering to the Cinque Terre, I went to take a look at the sea after dropping my daughter off at nursery school. It was a warm morning, the […]
After five weeks of straight sunshine, a cloud bank settled in over Levanto this morning, and we have had our first gray day in ages. No complaints, though – after all, the seasons and rhythms of the sun are as important for us as they are for any other animal, […]