{"id":53924,"date":"2026-09-30T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/darkseagreen-rook-345411.hostingersite.com\/liguria\/chiavari\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T07:05:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:05:42","slug":"chiavari","status":"publish","type":"localita","link":"https:\/\/italian-riviera.com\/en\/riviera-di-levante\/chiavari\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiavari"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chiavari is the largest town on the Gulf of Tigullio: about 27,500 people, an old centre threaded with roughly five kilometres of arcades, and a seafront that runs from the marina to the white tower of the Colonia Fara. It sits at the mouth of the Entella river, halfway between Portofino and Sestri Levante, with Lavagna just across the bridge.<\/p>\n

It is not a postcard village like Portofino, and that is the point. Chiavari is a real town that stays busy all year, with old-fashioned shops, caf\u00e9s under the arcades and a monthly antiques market that fills the centre. The famous Chiavari chair was born here in 1807, and the town’s Iron Age necropolis is one of the most important in Liguria.<\/p>\n

Chiavari also makes a practical base. The station is on the Genoa\u2013La Spezia line, boats leave from the marina, and Rapallo, Santa Margherita and Sestri Levante are all within half an hour. You can see the centre in half a day; allow three or four days if you want beaches, hikes and day trips to Portofino and the Cinque Terre.<\/p>\n

What to see in Chiavari<\/h2>\n
\"View<\/figure>\n

The old centre is flat, compact and best explored on foot. Start from the station, which faces the marina, and you are under the arcades in five minutes. Leave the car outside the centre: spaces are few and all paid.<\/p>\n

The carruggio dritto<\/h3>\n
\"Arcaded<\/figure>\n

Via Martiri della Liberazione is the backbone of the old town, and everyone calls it the “carruggio dritto”, the straight lane. It is long, dead straight and arcaded on both sides, lined with pastry shops, historic caf\u00e9s and old shops selling everything from fabric to anchovies. This is where locals take their evening stroll, especially on Saturdays.<\/p>\n

On the second weekend of every month the street and the lanes around it fill with the stalls of the antiques market<\/strong>. Dates for 2026, opening hours and tips are in our guide to the Chiavari antiques market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The arcades and old palazzi<\/h3>\n
\"Arcades<\/figure>\n

No two stretches of arcade are the same: low medieval arches, stone columns, whitewashed vaults. The oldest is Palazzo Masina, known as the “black arcades”, built in the first half of the 13th century with a Gothic fa\u00e7ade. In the streets parallel to the carruggio you will also find the palazzi of the Fieschi and Ravaschieri families, who ran the town under the Republic of Genoa.<\/p>\n

Walk slowly and look up: many fa\u00e7ades have slate doorways, coats of arms and painted decoration. The centre began as a fortified Genoese town, with walls built in 1167.<\/p>\n

Piazza Mazzini and Palazzo Torriglia<\/h3>\n
\"Square<\/figure>\n

Piazza Mazzini is the heart of town, surrounded by colourful buildings and caf\u00e9 terraces. On the square stands Palazzo Torriglia, from the early 1600s. In the 19th century its ground floor was the Albergo della Posta, where Giuseppe Garibaldi stayed in 1849 and the novelist Alessandro Manzoni in 1852. On the Sunday of the antiques market the square hosts craft stalls and street artists.<\/p>\n

Cathedral of Nostra Signora dell’Orto<\/h3>\n
\"Neoclassical<\/figure>\n

The cathedral is Chiavari’s best-known landmark, with a huge marble portico of columns that looks like a classical temple. Building began in 1613, after an apparition of the Virgin traditionally dated 2 July 1610. The portico was designed by Luigi Poletti in 1836 but only finished in 1907. Our Lady of the Orchard is the town’s patron: on 2 July there is a big street fair and fireworks over the marina.<\/p>\n

Church of San Giovanni Battista<\/h3>\n

This is the oldest foundation in the centre. It was founded in 1181 by Bardo Fieschi and rebuilt between 1624 and 1631 by the architects Andrea Ceresola and Bartolomeo Bianco. The marble fa\u00e7ade dates from 1935. Inside it is a large Genoese Baroque church.<\/p>\n

Palazzo Rocca and the Villa Rocca park<\/h3>\n
\"Park<\/figure>\n

At the foot of the hill, a few minutes from the centre, Palazzo Rocca was built in 1629\u20131630 for the Costaguta marquises, again to a design by Bartolomeo Bianco. The town has owned it since 1912. The main floor houses the Civic Gallery of paintings, with limited opening times, so check before you go. Behind it the Villa Rocca park climbs the hillside with paths, old trees and views over the rooftops: a good shady break on a hot day.<\/p>\n

Archaeological museum and pre-Roman necropolis<\/h3>\n

The former stables of Palazzo Rocca house the National Archaeological Museum. It tells the story of a discovery made in 1959, when building work near viale Millo uncovered a necropolis from the 8th\u20137th centuries BC, the early Iron Age. The graves were stone “box” tombs with valuable grave goods. The 2021 layout starts with the area’s raw materials and ends with Roman and medieval finds.<\/p>\n

In 2026 the museum opens Tuesday to Saturday, 9am\u20132pm (Thursday until 5pm), and on the second Sunday of the month, the same day as the antiques market. A full ticket costs \u20ac3, and under-18s go free. Check for changes on the official museum page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Societ\u00e0 Economica and the Chiavari chair<\/h3>\n

On via Ravaschieri stands the Societ\u00e0 Economica, founded in 1791 by local nobles and merchants to promote farming, crafts and education. It houses a historic library, a picture gallery and the Risorgimento Museum.<\/p>\n

This is where the Chiavari chair was born. In 1807 the society’s president, the Marquis Stefano Rivarola, asked the cabinetmaker Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi, known as “Campanino”, to make a lighter version of some Empire-style chairs brought back from Paris. Descalzi slimmed down the frame, used cherry wood and a woven seat, and the “chiavarina” was born: so light you can lift it with one finger. Today you know it from every wedding and gala dinner. In the 1950s Gio Ponti drew on its structure for his Superleggera chair, and a few local workshops still make it by hand.<\/p>\n

The marina and the seafront promenade<\/h3>\n
\"Chiavari<\/figure>\n

Right opposite the station is the marina, full of sailing boats and yachts; the tour boats leave from here too. From the marina, corso Valparaiso runs along the sea: a long promenade with gardens, playgrounds, kiosks and ice-cream shops. Joggers use it in the morning, everyone else at aperitivo time.<\/p>\n

\"Wooden<\/figure>\n

Heading west, the promenade continues to the Preli area on a newer boardwalk that ends at the foot of the Colonia Fara.<\/p>\n

Colonia Fara<\/h3>\n

The white tower at the end of the seafront is the Colonia Fara, built in 1935\u20131936 by the engineer Camillo Nardi Greco as a seaside holiday camp for 400 children. It is one of the purest examples of Rationalist architecture in Liguria: a long horizontal base and a round tower 49 metres high, with Futurist “aeropaintings” inside. Abandoned from the 1980s, it was sold by the town and restored privately, with work completed in 2022. You see it from outside, and one of the town’s free beaches lies right in front.<\/p>\n

The castle<\/h3>\n
\"Chiavari<\/figure>\n

On the hill behind the centre stand the walls and keep of the Genoese castle, built as an outpost against the Malaspina family, who besieged it in vain in 1172. You see it best from the ring road and the steps that climb into the hills; it is not set up for visits. The same steps lead to the footpaths towards Leivi.<\/p>\n

Beaches in Chiavari<\/h2>\n
\"Yellow<\/figure>\n

Chiavari’s beaches are long and mostly pebbles<\/strong> or coarse sand, so bring water shoes. They run west from the marina along corso Valparaiso, with a mix of beach clubs and free stretches. In 2026 the Blue Flag went to the Spiaggia Porto, the beach by the marina.<\/p>\n