Lavagna

The town’s landmark is a Baroque church with twin bell towers, set high above Piazza Marconi and reached by a sweeping staircase. A parish church stood here as early as the 10th century; the present building was rebuilt around 1653 under Giovanni Battista Ghiso, and the two towers were finished in 1657. It has been a minor basilica since 1921.

Inside are three naves with stucco work and altars. From the steps and the terrace above the arcade on Piazza Marconi you look out over the rooftops of the old town. If you would rather skip the stairs, the Porticato Bignardello (1897) climbs to the monumental cemetery behind the church, with 19th-century marble tombs.

In the heart of the old town, on Via XX Settembre, the Torre del Borgo is an old defensive tower built against pirate raids and possibly linked to the Fieschi; its exact date is uncertain. Over time it was also a home with a private chapel. Today it houses the “Alloisio” civic archaeological collection and the Slate Gallery of local sculptor Francesco Dallorso, the best place to see what can be carved from this stone. At Christmas it hosts a nativity scene showing old Lavagna.

Opening is limited, usually on some summer evenings, so check with the town’s tourist office before you go.

Lavagna’s town hall occupies a noble palace from 1696 with a painted façade. French troops took it over in 1797 and it later served as a hospital during cholera epidemics. In 1931 the town bought it through a public subscription. You see it from the outside: it is a working office, not a museum.

At Via Riboli 14, right in the centre, Casa Carbone is a house museum run by FAI, the Italian National Trust. It is a mid-19th-century middle-class home left as it was, with furniture, paintings, ceramics and objects from the 17th to the 20th century. It is small and takes under an hour, but it shows well how a well-off Tigullio family lived.

In 2026 it opens on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings in spring and autumn, with summer evening openings in the garden; a full ticket costs €5. Check the calendar on the FAI website.

Lavagna’s marina is one of the largest in the Mediterranean, with around 1,500 berths for boats from 8 to 51 metres, protected by a breakwater more than a kilometre long. Since 2026 it has been run under a 50-year concession by an investment fund that plans major works and will rename it “Marina di Lavagna”, so expect some building sites in the coming years.

If you don’t own a boat, it is mainly a place for a walk: bars, restaurants, yachts to look at and views across to Chiavari and the Portofino promontory.

The Entella separates Lavagna from Chiavari. At its mouth is a small wetland where herons, black-winged stilts, kingfishers and other migrating birds stop in spring and autumn. The riverside path is flat, suitable for bikes and buggies, and leads inland towards Cogorno.