Sanremo, Liguria's Flower-Filled Riviera Resort
Sanremo, often written San Remo in English, is a seaside city on the Riviera di Ponente in Liguria, north-western Italy, known as the Riviera dei Fiori, the Riviera of Flowers, for the blooms grown on the hills behind. It is famed for its palm-lined promenades, its Belle Epoque architecture and the Sanremo Music Festival, held every year since 1951 and one of Italy's best-loved television events. The sunny, sheltered position, with mountains behind and the sea in front, has made it a winter and summer resort since the nineteenth century.
The city has two faces. The seafront and Corso Matteotti hold the elegant shops, Art Nouveau Casino, completed in 1905, and the Ariston Theatre, home of the festival. Above, La Pigna, the medieval old town, is a labyrinth of steep stairways and vaulted passages crowned by the Madonna della Costa sanctuary and a quiet hilltop garden. The Russian Orthodox Church, with its onion domes, and Villa Nobel, where Alfred Nobel spent his final years, recall a cosmopolitan past.
Flowers, Cycling and Ligurian Flavours
Flowers remain central to the city's identity, with a large flower market and gardens at Villa Ormond and Villa Nobel showing off the region's Mediterranean planting. Cycling has deep roots here: the Milan to Sanremo race, first held in 1907, is one of cycling's great spring Classics, and a coastal cycle path runs along the old railway line for many kilometres, passing through small harbours. The hills inland hold medieval villages such as Bussana Vecchia, a ruined village reborn as an artists' community.
The cuisine blends sea and hill. Taggiasca olives and their mild oil, Pigato and Rossese wines, sardenaira, a local focaccia-style pizza with tomato and anchovy, and fresh fish all feature on menus. An airline connecting with Nice or Genoa can easily offer the area as a short Riviera break, and the seafront promenade and old town mean a stay can combine sunshine, culture and good food in a compact, walkable city.
Read the full Sanremo guide on Visit Travel Group, or see VisitSanRemo.co.uk on Visit Travel Group.