| Destination of the week: |
| | Sanremo |
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THERE are those who would have you believe Sanremo is a byword for faded glamour. Then again, there are those who would probably tell you a classic Jaguar E–type a relic.
In truth, the appeal of this jewel of the Italian Riviera – the most famous resort on Liguria’s coast – is timeless and has drawn admirers down the ages.
In the late 19th and early 20th century it was principally Russian nobility who took an interest in property in Liguria. Empress Maria Alexandrovna settled here, while it was in Sanremo that Tchaikovsky wrote his Fourth Symphony in 1878 and completed Eugene Onegin the following year. The Russians left a lasting monument in the shape of the imposing Orthodox Russian Church. It was completed in 1913 and borrows heavily in style from Moscow’s San Basilio.
It perhaps pales in glamour when compared to the San Siro, Sanremo’s Romanesque’Gothic cathedral that dates from the 12th century. There were other notable 19th century visitors too. In 1896 Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist who invented dynamite and gave the world the Nobel Prizes, died in a villa on Corso Felice Cavalotti.
Property in Liguria
These days, of course, property in Liguria isn’t just the preserve of royalty and nobility, the rich and famous. An apartment in Sanremo with a sea view can be yours for €430,000. But many buyers looking for a canny investment in a home or villa in the Italian Riviera look to the hinterland, where prices, while not dirt cheap, are slightly more affordable.
There is still a touch of the distant past in Sanremo old town, La Pigna. This is a town of steep streets, quaint houses, covered alleys and intimate piazzas. It’s easy to imagine it almost unchanged since medieval times.
But there is also the modern town, with worldwide renown as a tourist hotspot. It is to here that visitors flock for its gorgeous sandy beaches, elegant boutiques and lively nightspots. The main artery of Sanremo is Corso Matteotti, its most elegant thoroughfare and packed with high-end boutiques.
Take a stroll down Corso Matteotti to Borea d’Olmo Palace at No143, one of the city’s plushest private homes.
It has belonged to the titled Borea family for centuries and the long line of VIPs hosted here includes Queens, Popes and Archdukes.
A bit further along, at the intersection of this promenade with Via Faraldi and Corso Mombello, lies the Cinema Centrale. The cinema, opened in 1924, boasts a deco-style facade. It is worth paying a visit to see the breathtaking fresco on the vault inside. And at No212 there is the Cinema Teatro Aristo, better known as the venue of the Sanremo Italian Song Festival.
Arguably Sanremo’s two most famous attractions nowadays – the Casino, built in 1905, and the music festival – were born in an elegant, bygone age. The art nouveau gambling palace, opened in 1905, is one of Europe’s biggest and most ornate. And the festival, staged in late February or early March, has always been a surefire bet as a magnet for glamour and razzamatazz since its launch in the 1950s.
The gala is akin to Italy’s version of the Grammy Awards but held over several days with live performances from pop singers the world over. For the cream of Italy’s pop talent, however, it is their opportunity to compete for the somewhat dubious honour of representing the country in the Eurovision Song Contest.
If you’re planning on catching it, be sure to book early as tickets and hotel rooms for miles around are frequently booked out months in advance.
Another notable festival here takes place on August 15 –the festival of Nostra Signora della Costa (our Lady of the Coast). Folklore has it that the Virgin Mary saved a seaman from a watery grave here. Townsfolk mark the anniversary by donning medieval costumes as they stage a procession that starts at a shrine to her in the hills overlooking Sanremo and finishes in the city itself. There is a firework display to ensure celebrations end with
a bang. No less spectacular is the World Fireworks Championship, held here in June and July and which lights up the night sky over the port.
In many ways one of the main attractions of Sanremo is the spectacular beauty of Sanremo itself. It sits in a bay, surrounded by a semicircle of hills. Cape Verde to the east and Cape Nero to the West overlook it like seats at an amphitheatre, with San Remo centre stage. Its topography ensures it has a mild and equable climate even beyond summer and autumn, which has seen Sanremo established as Italy’s largest and oldest winter health resort.
Adding to its natural charm is the fact that the city is flower capital of Italy – a fact obvious from the large, spectacular flower displays in evidence seemingly wherever you look, in gardens, on terraces, in greenhouses and along streets. Roses and carnations are grown in abundance here for export. Not for nothing is this stretch of the Ligurian coast known as the Riviera dei Fiori (Riviera of flowers). If you are here, check out the daily auctions held every morning in the covered flower market on Corso Garibaldi.
Other must-sees are the Parco Marsaglia at the end of the Corso Imperatrice and Nobel’s old villa, which now serves as a cultural centre and also houses a small museum dedicated to the great man.
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