Turist information

Here you have some infos about the Rapallo area (Tigullio):   They are meant to help you enjoy the places I love and know best and the ones it might be more difficult to bump in just walking around. You’ll also find some general hints, that may sound funny or useless if you already know Italy but will turn useful if it is the first time you are in my country. Consider that I usually visit the area in winter and during weekend (I love Liguria but I live in Milano), in summer time there are many other places to check.

Rapallo

• Hostaria Vecchia Rapallo, Via Fratelli Cairoli, 24-25 tel 0185 50053
• Focaccia in Riviera, it is just at the beginning of via Zunino (or at the end if you arrive from the apartment). Try their Focaccia di Recco (cheese focaccia ) it’s eccellent.
• Bagni Molo (in summer is also restaurant) Marzia: +39 392 0997559 
• Bar Sole, great location.
• U Bansin Via Venezia, 104 tel: 0185 231119 very easy but but the food is good 
• U Giancu Via San Massimo – tel: 0185.260505/0185.261212 a must if you have little kids. They will love it. It’s far from the center and the apt, you can go there by bus (direction San Massimo) by car or taxi
• Trattoria Da Mario, Piazza Garibaldi, 23, tel: 0185 51736‎
• If you love pizza: Pizzeria Bella Napoli, Corso Colombo, 26. tel: tel 0185 56683
• Almost all of the places on the Passeggiata are ok. To pick out some two names: Hotel Miramare and Da Monique.

Santa Margherita 

• Caffè del Porto Via Tomaso Bottaro, 32 tel: 0185 287044, traditional cuisine easy and quite inexpensive.
• Capo Nord: 0185 289542 (it’s actually between Santa Margherita and Paraggi) unfortunately it is open only in summer. Very romantic, you really eat “pieds dans l’eau”.
• There are also some other nice places in the area by Piazza Vittorio Veneto and at the beginning of Calata del Porto but sometimes they are a little snobish and the gap between what you pay and what you get is too high. In summer is really crowded. Consider that Santa Margherita is one of the favourite places for young scion of northern Italy rich families to show off, in winter is different.

Sestri Levante

• Polpo Mario: 0185 480203 my favourite dish is “misto all’antica” and my favourite wine is: Vermentino di Laura Aschero
• Cantine Cattaneo: Via Vicinale della Madonnetta, 1 tel: 0185 487431 you need to go there by car or you can take a taxi from Sestri Levante.
• Portobello: Via Portobello, 16 -tel: 0185 41566‎ in the baia del silenzio
• Asseu: via G.B. da Ponzerone, 2 take the road from Sestri Levante to Moneglia, the restaurant is just after Riva Trigoso. www.asseu.it. You need a car or you can take a taxi from Sestri Levante.
• Ristorante dei Castelli: the owner is the same of Polpo Mario. Very nice location and good food but, in my opinion, a little too expensive. I prefer Polpo Mario.

Ruta di Camogli

• Nonna Nina (excellent traditional ligurian cuisine) : 0185 773835 www.nonnanina.it you have to go by car or take a taxi from Santa Margherita or Camogli. You can also take a 15-20 min walk from the bus stop of Ruta. 

If you go there for lunch and don’t mind walking (and little trekking), you can spend the afternoon on the path from Ruta to Punta Chiappa and then from Punta Chiappa to the village of Camogli, wich is beautifull.

Rapallo

• Frigidarium (just by the castle)
• Gelateria del Polpo (under the arcades at the beginning of via Mazzini)

Santa Margherita

• Gelateria Centrale try Pinguino (chocolate dipped ice cream)

Sestri Levante

• Baciollo (my top favourite) try: crema con fichi e noci (figues and nut) and ricotta e cotognata.

Chiavari

• Gelateria Davide

Aperitivo is normally served with a little food that sometimes it is not just “a little”.

In some places, in summer, you may find “happy hour” wich is served from 7pm to 9pm: you only pay for the drink and are aloud to help yourself as much as you like with food. It is the italian version of “tapas”. 

Rapallo

• Enoteca Il castello 
• Bar le saline

Chiavari

• Caffè Defilla in corso Garibaldi

Sestri Levante

There are two bars in the “baia del silenzio”, one is by Hotel Helvetia and the other one is almost on the other side of the bay. Both of them are very nice.

Camogli

• Bistingo

Portofino 

• La Gritta 
• Enoteca Winter Rose

They are both on calata Marconi on your left side looking at the sea.

You must visit the following villages: (in brackets the best way to reach them in day time)

• Camogli (train)
• Portofino (boat/bus) 
• Sestri Levante (train/car)
• Cinque Terre (train/boat) consider a full day to go, visit and come back. It’s touristic but worth the crowd.

If your holiday lasts a little more:

• Zoagli (foot/train/car)
• Chiavari (train/car) it’s very nice the center with it’s ancient arcades but I do not like so much the new waterfront.
• Santa Margherita (bus/car)
• Lavagna (bus/car)
• Portovenere and Lerici (boat) quite far away, consider a full day to go, visit and come back
• And last but not least Genova. In my opinion, it has the same ranking of Florence or Turin in terms of number and quality of historic buildings and monuments. Do not forget to visit the Genova Acquarium www.acquariodigenova.it and the Città dei bambini, www.cittàdeibambini.net. Your kids will love it!
• Also check exhibitions in Palazzo Ducale: http://www.palazzoducale.genova.it
• San Fruttuoso (only by boat). Charming but very touristic, do not go on week-end http://www.fondoambiente.it/beni/abbazia-s-fruttuoso-beni-del-fai.asp 

• Walk from Rapallo to Santa Margherita (5km) and Portofino (9km) it is plain and easy with many places and villages to stop and rest on the way. Avoid weekends and July-August period, you walk by the same road of cars and you do not want to mix too much “sea smell and sound” with “traffic smell and sound”. 
• Walk from Ruta di Camogli (you reach it by bus from Rapallo) to Punta Chiappa/Capo Pidocchio. If you are a good swimmer, have a swim at punta Chiappa. Be careful, if the sea is not calm it can be difficult to get out of the water. Check what locals do. On the way there is a nice restaurant: U SPADIN. His pesto sauce is famous.
• Trekking from Portofino to San Fruttuoso (you can also reach San Fruttuoso by boat) It is quite challenging but the wiew is great. If you get too tired you can take your way back by boat. Check the boat (battelli) time table in Portofino. 

• Things change a lot between summer and the rest of the year. 

  in summer, specially during week-end it’s much better not to use your car. The problem is actually much more parking than circulation.

  By bus, train or boat you can go almost everywere but check accurately the schedule for your way back.

  Bus station is just in front of train station (stazione).

  Bus is also a very good place to talk to locals and ask for tips of info about the area.

  Boats leave from the “passeggiata” 200mt far from the castle

  This is the italian railway company site: http://www.ferroviedellostato.it check those destinations: Zoagli, Camogli, Corniglia (cinque terre), Sestri Levante and GENOVA.

  This is the bus company site: http://www.tigulliotrasporti.it/cartina2.php?sez=TOc check: Santa Margherita, Portofino, Camogli, Zoagli, Ruta di Camogli.

  This is the ferry company web site: http://www.traghettiportofino.it/ check: Portofino, Santa Margherita, San Fruttuoso and Cinque Terre.

Generally speaking in Liguria there is a much wider choice of “land food” than fish. Wich it does not mean fish is not excellent, but, it would not be smart to eat more frequently fish than the rest just because you are by the seaside.

If I have to pick a category of ingredients to be told as the most important in the Ligurian cuisine, I would say: vegetables and oil. And I would add that the tradition as been able to create dishes full of taste and perfume from very poor ingredients.

Here you have some dishes that are typical of the region:

• Pesto sauce, wich is used to season trofie or trenette
• Salsa di Noci (nut sauce), wich is used to season Pansotti, wich is a kind of ravioli with vegetable filling
• Coniglio (rabbit) or fishes like orata or branzino alla ligure (oven cooked with potatoes and olives)
• Polpo con le patate octopus with boiled potatoes (very good at Polpo Mario restaurant)
• Many difefrent tipe of Torte di verdure (quiches) or verdure ripiene, one for all is Torta Pasqualina (wich is supposed to be eaten at Easter). 
• Focaccia (flatbread) and focaccia con il formaggio (cheese). The best places to buy focaccia are bakeries. The one by the apartment and the one under the arches at the beginning of via Mazzini are excellent.
• Very good focaccia also at Il focacciaio in Vico del Pozzo, 30, Rapallo (and it is open also on Sunday and till 8,30-9,00 pm.)
• Olives: if they bring you some dark little olives they are “olive Taggiasche” they do not look nice but are tastefull.

Generally speaking in Liguria there is a much wider choice of “land food” than fish. Wich it does not mean fish is not excellent, but, it would not be smart to eat more frequently fish than the rest just because you are by the seaside.

If I have to pick a category of ingredients to be told as the most important in the Ligurian cuisine, I would say: vegetables and oil. And I would add that the tradition as been able to create dishes full of taste and perfume from very poor ingredients.

Here you have some dishes that are typical of the region:

• Pesto sauce, wich is used to season trofie or trenette
• Salsa di Noci (nut sauce), wich is used to season Pansotti, wich is a kind of ravioli with vegetable filling
• Coniglio (rabbit) or fishes like orata or branzino alla ligure (oven cooked with potatoes and olives)
• Polpo con le patate octopus with boiled potatoes (very good at Polpo Mario restaurant)
• Many difefrent tipe of Torte di verdure (quiches) or verdure ripiene, one for all is Torta Pasqualina (wich is supposed to be eaten at Easter). 
• Focaccia (flatbread) and focaccia con il formaggio (cheese). The best places to buy focaccia are bakeries. The one by the apartment and the one under the arches at the beginning of via Mazzini are excellent.
• Very good focaccia also at Il focacciaio in Vico del Pozzo, 30, Rapallo (and it is open also on Sunday and till 8,30-9,00 pm.)
• Olives: if they bring you some dark little olives they are “olive Taggiasche” they do not look nice but are tastefull.

Tips at restaurant: it does not work like in the States and in many other countries, 15-20% of the bill is a lot (that is why often the service is worse).

If you are happy with the service you can leave:

• bar, caffè, enoteca and similar (only if you are served at the table): 1-2 euro per person
• at the restaurant: 2-3 euro per person
• at the bar counter: it would be kind to leave 20-50 cents but most of the Italians don’t tip at the counter. Never leave copper coins. 

If you are served by the owner (sometimes it may happen) you should not tip, if you want to tip, is kind to specify that the tip is for the employees.

bill/check: it is quite unusual to ask for separate bills and is even more unusual that each person pays with his own credit card (as it often happens in France). 

Means of payment: do not forget to carry some cash with you. In Italy credit/debit cards and similar are used in supermarkets, nice shops and restaurants or to buy gas.

Small grocery, bars, small restaurant and, generally speaking, small exercise only accept cash. Maybe they show American Express or Visa sign outside but, when you try to use your card, they tell you either, your card is not working or their machine is broken.

Prices that are shown on menues and everywere include all taxes.

If you do not like espresso because it is too strong ask for “caffè americano” 

if you want a sort of mini cappuccino ask for “macchiato caldo” 

Avoid restaurants that displays food pictures outside and the ones with a too wide menu. With a few exceptions, the shorter is the menu, the better (and fresher) is the food.

Allways ask the price of the “dish of the day”.