Lerici

Liguria, Italy

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Lerici is a picturesque coastal town in the province of La Spezia in Liguria, northwestern Italy, positioned on the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia (also called the Gulf of Poets) about 8 kilometers southeast of La Spezia and directly across the bay from Porto Venere and the Cinque Terre.

This charming seaside destination, home to approximately 9,200 residents, features pastel-colored buildings clustered on a promontory, scenic crescent-shaped coves, rocky cliffs, and pleasant sandy beaches that make it a favorite spot for local Italians and vacationing families from northern Italy. Lerici's most iconic landmark is its imposing medieval castle, first founded in 1152, which was strategically built to control the entrance to the Gulf of La Spezia and now dominates the town's skyline.

The town has deep literary connections as the place where English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned on July 8, 1822, while sailing back from Livorno and Pisa, and where he and his wife Mary Shelley once lived in an isolated boathouse called Casa Magni nearby. His birthplace Horsham, England, is even twinned with Lerici in his honor.

The town's origins date back to the Etruscan period, and it later came under Genoese control in the Middle Ages after conflicts between Genoa and Pisa, remaining under Genoese sway from 1479 onward. Lerici offers excellent seafood restaurants, clear waters ideal for diving (including the Caletta Underwater Archaeological Park with remains of a Roman merchant ship), and ferry connections to the Cinque Terre and Porto Venere, making it a more relaxed, authentic alternative to the overcrowded Cinque Terre while still offering stunning Mediterranean beauty.