RAPALLO

477km (296 miles) NW of Rome, 27km (17 miles) SE of Genoa, 161km (100 miles) S of Milan.

This is a city for the fashionable crowd, built on a hillside overlooking the gulf of Tigullio. It has a modern harbour, a riding club, an indoor pool and an eighteen hole golf course. The city has only a few artistic attractions, mainly the Montallegro Sanctuary (Santuario di Montallegro). Rapallo is a favourite tourist spot and in summer the crowded heart of Rapallo takes on a carnival air, as crowds of sunbathers occupy the rocky sands along the beach. The sights over the sea and across the valleys are reason enough for the tourist to come up here, though, and this scenery is even more wonderful from the summit of Monte Rosa, a short uphill trek away. Tourists can go for summer boat trips, not only to Portofino but also to the Cinque Terre. 

Rapallo has a history similar to that of Genoa, though it was part of the Republica Superba in 1229, it has a history that begins much before that. It was founded by the Bishops of Milan in the sixth century, when they constructed a cathedral there. It was at one time a medieval town enclosed by strong walls, these walls have now disappeared and only the Saline gate remains. Rapallo has been the venue for many international meetings, the most prominent of which was the 1917 conference of wartime allies. 

Rapallo was once known as one of Europe's most fashionable resorts but those days have gone. It has among its residents Ezra Pound and D. H. Lawrence. Other artists, poets, and writers have been drawn to it, by its natural beauty, which has been spoiled in part by an unrestrained construction boom brought on by tourism. At the innermost corner of the Gulf of Tigullio, Rapallo is still the most famous resort on the Riviera di Levante, this is because of its year-round mild climate.