{"id":61748,"date":"2026-10-14T22:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/italian-riviera.com\/liguria\/albissola\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T22:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:04:58","slug":"albissola","status":"publish","type":"localita","link":"https:\/\/italian-riviera.com\/en\/riviera-di-ponente\/albissola\/","title":{"rendered":"Albissola"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albissola is the ceramics coast of the Riviera delle Palme, a few kilometres from Savona<\/a> in the province of Savona. Under this one name there are actually two neighbouring towns: Albissola Marina<\/strong>, spelled with two “s”, about 5,000 inhabitants, the seafront and the old town facing the water; and Albisola Superiore<\/strong>, with a single “s”, about 9,400 inhabitants, larger, climbing from the sea into the hills, with the railway station, the motorway exit, the Trucco Museum and Villa Gavotti. The mouth of the Sansobbia stream divides them, but on foot you cross from one to the other without noticing.<\/p>\n

People come for three things. Ceramics: working workshops, historic kilns, tile murals and an open-air museum shaped by artists such as Lucio Fontana and Asger Jorn. The sea: both towns hold a 2026 Blue Flag and a long, flat seafront lined with beach clubs. And convenience: Savona is five minutes away by train, Celle Ligure<\/a> is next door and Genoa<\/a> is about an hour away.<\/p>\n

This guide covers both towns together, because visitors treat them as one place, but it always tells you which town each sight belongs to. That is where most guides go wrong: the station is called “Albisola” and sits in Albisola Superiore, Villa Faraggiana is in Albissola Marina, Villa Gavotti in Albisola Superiore. Ceramics has its own page: workshops, museums and a ceramics walk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What to see in Albissola<\/h2>\n
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Albissola Marina can be walked in half a day. Albisola Superiore needs a little longer because its sights are more spread out, but the station and the sea are close to both. Below, Albissola Marina comes first, then Albisola Superiore.<\/p>\n

Lungomare degli Artisti (Albissola Marina)<\/h3>\n
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The signature sight: about a kilometre of seafront paved with a ceramic and stoneware mosaic made of twenty original panels signed by Italian and foreign artists, among them Lucio Fontana, Aligi Sassu, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Emanuele Luzzati, Wifredo Lam and Asger Jorn. It was inaugurated on 10 August 1963. Signs along the way explain the works; entry is free, the promenade is always open and it works with a pushchair.<\/p>\n

It starts near the pier and piazza del Popolo and runs towards the border with Albisola Superiore, near Parco Faraggiana. At the end is the free equipped beach Le Vele, in front of piazza Tullio d’Albisola. In rough seas the promenade can be closed or covered in debris; on those days use the streets behind.<\/p>\n

Pozzo Garitta and the old town<\/h3>\n
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A few steps from the sea, Pozzo Garitta is a small square in the old town where kilns and artists’ studios stood, including Fontana’s. The old town also has the oratory of San Giuseppe, built in 1608. It is the most intimate part of Albissola Marina: narrow lanes, ceramics shops with real windows, a few caf\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

Church of Nostra Signora della Concordia<\/h3>\n

The parish church of Albissola Marina dates from the late 1500s, with a fa\u00e7ade redone in 1903. Inside are a processional float by Anton Maria Maragliano, 17th-century sculptures and a polychrome ceramic nativity scene dated 1576, about two metres tall. The patron saint’s feast, the Nativity of Mary, is on 8 September.<\/p>\n

MuDA and the Centro Esposizioni<\/h3>\n

MuDA, the Museo Diffuso Albisola, was founded in 2011 and has no single building: it joins Casa Museo Jorn, the Alba Docilia kiln, the Lungomare degli Artisti and a few historic workshops. The starting point is the Centro Esposizioni on via dell’Oratorio, with exhibitions and a reading room. Entry is normally free, with opening Tuesday to Sunday and a break at midday; hours change with the season, so confirm them on the MuDA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alba Docilia kiln and the Raku Wall<\/h3>\n

The Fornace Alba Docilia on via Stefano Grosso worked from the early 1600s until 1982. Today it is an exhibition space with a permanent show of macachi, the small figures of the Albisola nativity scene. In the square in front is the Raku Wall: 32 square metres and about 1,200 tiles made by 77 artists. The wall can always be seen from the street; the kiln itself has limited opening, mostly weekends and events, so check first.<\/p>\n

Casa Museo Jorn<\/h3>\n

The artist Asger Jorn (1914\u20131973) lived and worked here. His house on the hill, in the Bruciati district, is a complete work of art: murals, ceramic collages and a garden. You reach it on foot from the centre by a steep stairway, or by car. Hours depend on the month and the day: check before climbing, because it opens mainly on weekends and a few mornings.<\/p>\n

Mazzotti Museum and Fontana’s Crocodile<\/h3>\n

The Fondazione Museo Giuseppe Mazzotti 1903 on corso Matteotti is a garden museum with more than fifty 20th-century works. They include Lucio Fontana’s “Coccodrillo” of 1936, visible from the street. The Mazzotti ceramics building on the Aurelia road, from 1938, is a Futurist design by Nicolaj Diulgheroff. Visiting hours for the museum are not confirmed: ask ahead.<\/p>\n

Villa Faraggiana (Albissola Marina)<\/h3>\n
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The villa is in Albissola Marina, on via Salomoni, not in Albisola Superiore as some websites say. The Durazzo family built it in the 18th century; since 1961 it belongs to the city of Novara. It has an Italian garden with statues, fountains, terraces, cedars, magnolias and camphor trees, and rooms with stucco, majolica and the Gallery of the Four Seasons. Museum visits are by reservation (tel. +39 019 480622), with no published fixed hours; the official website<\/a> has the details. On the Ville Aperte weekends in September there are free guided tours with booking.<\/p>\n

Scoglio della Madonnetta and the Underwater Nativity<\/h3>\n

On the border with Savona, the rock with its votive shrine is a snorkelling and photography spot, reached by swimming, pedal boat or SUP. About 200 metres offshore lies the Presepe degli Abissi: three life-size ceramic statues (Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus) placed on the seabed in 2019. You can visit for free and on your own when the sea allows, swimming, by canoe or SUP, or on a short boat trip.<\/p>\n

San Nicol\u00f2 (Albisola Superiore)<\/h3>\n
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The parish church stands at the foot of Castellaro hill, in the old village. Its origins go back to the 11th century, with a Baroque rebuilding in the 1600s. Inside are Francesco Schiaffino’s “Glory of St Nicholas” of 1745, frescoes and canvases by Paolo Gerolamo Brusco and a “Dying Christ” by Maragliano. The churchyard is paved in black and white pebble mosaic. Just above, the oratory of Santa Maria Maggiore holds five crucifixes. The patron saint’s day is 6 December.<\/p>\n

Villa Gavotti (Albisola Superiore)<\/h3>\n
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Villa Gavotti della Rovere is in Albisola Superiore, on via della Rovere. The last doge of Genoa, Francesco Maria della Rovere, had it built in the mid-1700s on an older building. It has Baroque and Rococo fa\u00e7ades, a Four Seasons room with a majolica floor and a terraced Italian garden with fountains. It is private: not a museum and with no hours. It opens only on special occasions, for example the Ville Aperte weekends in September, by booking. The rest of the year you see it from outside, with the medieval bridge over the Riobasco nearby.<\/p>\n

Manlio Trucco Ceramics Museum (Albisola Superiore)<\/h3>\n

The museum on corso Filippo Ferrari occupies the house-workshop of the painter and potter Manlio Trucco (1884\u20131974) and opened in 1989. The route runs backwards from the 20th to the 16th century: Art Deco and Futurist ceramics, small sculptures by Arturo Martini and Francesco Messina, 17th and 18th-century pharmacy jars, 33 photographs by Gianni Berengo Gardin and, in the garden, Agenore Fabbri’s relief “Battaglia”. Hours are short and change: call +39 019 484615 before going. Do not confuse it with the Ceramics Museum in Savona.<\/p>\n

Montale Promenade and Albisola Capo<\/h3>\n

The Passeggiata Eugenio Montale follows the old railway line in the Albisola Capo district. It opened in 2001 with polychrome ceramic panels after designs by 20th-century artists linked to Albisola, and a bench about 120 metres long, the “Onda”, by Aurelio Carminati, Carlos Carl\u00e9 and Emanuele Luzzati. It is Albisola Superiore’s answer to the Lungomare degli Artisti, and a good viewpoint as well.<\/p>\n

Ellera and the old village<\/h3>\n

Ellera, a hamlet of Albisola Superiore about five kilometres from the centre, is an open-air gallery of art ceramics: panels painted by local and international artists on the walls of medieval lanes. The old centre of Albisola Superiore has narrow streets and tower houses, and it is the quietest part of the area.<\/p>\n

Albisola or Albissola: what is where<\/h2>\n

The two towns have been separate since about 1615; before that they were one village. Both go back to Alba Docilia, a Roman posting station on the road between Genoa and Vado. Why one town spells its name with two “s” and the other with one is not documented by any reliable source: it is said to come from a clerical slip in official records, but the story is unproven. In practice, remember this.<\/p>\n