Laigueglia, Italy is a small traditional seaside resort in western Liguria

Visit Laigueglia

The beach resort of Laigueglia is one of the quieter, more traditional resorts along the coast of western Liguria in north-west Italy.

Exploring Laigueglia

Start at Piazza Marconi, on the seafront and with a couple of cafes. From here you can first stroll out along the paved rock pier on the seafront, both for the views out to sea and also for the best view back on the town itself.

The sandy beach in the centre of Laigueglia is next to the pier, and you can also follow the promenade along behind the beach. While it is true that the buildings behind the beach are not of great architectural importance, this makes for a pleasant stroll and there is the occasional cafe or ice-cream shop to divert you...

The rest of the historic town centre is largely pedestrianised and contains a couple of small piazzas and narrow streets

The large church that you can see dominating the centre of Laigueglia is the Church of Saint Matthew. This church was built in the second half of the 18th century in the Baroque style and is unusual in having small towers with decorative majolica domes to either side of the main facade. Inside the church there are some notable 16th-17th century paintings by local artists and a 16th century marble font.

Next door to the church is the Oratory of Santa Maria Maddalena. This oratory actually predates the church by about 150 years and also contains various notable artefacts and artworks from the 16th - 18th centuries.

Another interesting monument is the round tower on the seafront, which was built in the 16th century to help defend the town from pirate attacks. Originally there were three of these towers but the other two were demolished under Napoleon to allow building works to be carried out.

If you visit Final Ligure, another town on this same stretch of the Ligurian coast, you can see the medieval village of Finalborgo, which I mention here because their alternative approach to avoiding the coastal pirate attacks was to develop a completely new village on a hill a couple of kilometres inland.

If you keep exploring Laigueglia you will come across a couple of smaller 17th century churches, otherwise you can now return to the beach!

Attractions nearby

Most excursions from Laigueglia will be to one of the other coastal resorts in the region, of which there are several including the popular resort at Alassio just a few kilometres to the north. For a change of scenery you can visit the medieval centre of Albenga, also not far north of Laigueglia.

You can find more local travel ideas in the Liguria guide.