La Spezia

Tucked at the head of a deep natural harbor on the Ligurian coast, La Spezia has guarded the Gulf of Poets — so named because Shelley drowned in its waters in 1822 and Byron swam across it — since the Romans established a settlement here along the Via Aurelia. Napoleon recognized the bay's strategic genius, and the Italian Navy has maintained its principal arsenal here since 1869, lending the city a purposeful, unsentimental character quite distinct from the tourist-polished villages that cling to the cliffsides nearby.

Yet La Spezia rewards those who look beyond first impressions. The Promenade Morin, a palm-shaded waterfront walk, leads to the Naval Museum with its collection of figureheads, torpedoes, and scale models spanning five centuries of maritime history. The daily market on Piazza Cavour — one of the largest in northern Italy — spills with Ligurian olive oil, focaccia di Recco oozing with stracchino cheese, and baskets of lemons from the terraced gardens of the Cinque Terre. Above the city, the Castello di San Giorgio, a thirteenth-century fortress, offers commanding views across the gulf to Portovenere and the island of Palmaria.

La Spezia is the custodian of one of Italy's great culinary traditions: pesto alla genovese, made here with local basil so fragrant it barely needs the pine nuts and Parmigiano to sing. Mesciua, a humble soup of chickpeas, white beans, and farro drizzled with olive oil, is the city's signature comfort food — a dish born of dockworkers mixing whatever grain spilled from cargo sacks. Muscoli ripieni, stuffed mussels baked with breadcrumbs, garlic, and parsley, reflect the port's seafaring soul. The local white wine, Vermentino dei Colli di Luni, with its mineral edge and herbal finish, pairs effortlessly with a plate of fried anchovies at any harbor-side trattoria.

The Cinque Terre — Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso — are the obvious draw, reachable in five to twenty minutes by the regional train that hugs the coast. But the Gulf of Poets holds other treasures: Portovenere, with its striped Romanesque church of San Pietro perched on a rocky promontory, lies twenty minutes by bus or ferry. Lerici, where Shelley spent his final days, sits across the gulf with a medieval castle overlooking a sheltered bay. For those willing to venture further, the marble quarries of Carrara — where Michelangelo selected stone for the Pietà — lie forty-five minutes north.

La Spezia has become a key embarkation point for Ligurian and western Mediterranean itineraries. AIDA, Azamara, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, CroisiEurope, Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Explora Journeys, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, Marella Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, TUI Cruises Mein Schiff, and Virgin Voyages all make calls here. The port connects to nearby Genoa, Livorno, and Portofino. Late spring and early autumn — May through June and September through October — deliver warm, luminous days with manageable crowds, making this the premier season for hiking the Cinque Terre trails and cruising the Ligurian shore.