A disused railway carved into the clifftop right along the shoreline, and a cycling and walking path connecting three villages that Liguria's complex terrain would otherwise keep far apart. On a beautiful autumn day, it's perfectly manageable even with children.
At nine in the morning, on the seafront of Levanto, a man with a shopping bag hanging from his handlebars overtakes a family adjusting the saddles of their hire bikes. Just past the old station — now a tourist office — in the Vallesanta district, the road ends against the rock face and a first tunnel opens up. Inside, the air is cooler and the light comes from a modern lighting system. The bike wheels glide silently along the asphalted lane, artificial light alternating with the sudden burst of a shaft of sunlight through a gap in the wall: and there is the sea, almost level with the wheels. Sometimes a splash of water even reaches you during stormy weather.
This stretch of the railway line between Sestri Levante and La Spezia was completed — the last link in the connection between Genova and Pisa — only in 1870, as a single track due to the enormous difficulties posed by the harshness of this stretch of coast, with all materials brought in by sea. For the small communities of the Spezzino area, which had no roads, it was a true revolution: an isolation that had lasted centuries was finally over. The quickest way to get around had until then been coastal cabotage sailing, with the alternative being the arduous mule tracks running along the hillsides. Only in 1970, a hundred years later, was the new double-track route built, entirely in tunnel, along with the new station at Levanto.
And so the old railway was abandoned. Along the seafront of Levanto — and of all the towns along the Riviera Spezzina — the view of the sea is screened by the old railway embankment, converted into an elevated road and car park. At last, the stretch from Levanto to Bonassola was returned to the community as a cycling and walking path in spring 2010, and the stretch to Framura a year later. The name MareMonti was chosen with the help of local schools. The path is perfectly flat and can be used by people with mobility impairments; a separate lane is reserved for pedestrians.
Levanto occupies the only true flat area on this stretch of coast — the alluvial plain of the Ghiararo stream, enclosed by a ring of mountains. Its streets are almost entirely level, and along the entire Riviera Spezzina it is the only town where you see so many bicycles, used by residents and holidaymakers alike, in every season. Levanto, for the quality of its tourism offering — which is attentive to walkers and cyclists — is part of the Cittaslow network.
Along this coast, the distance between two villages has always been measured in bends. To get by car (if you really must, better an electric car) from Levanto to Framura, you need to allow more than half an hour and fifteen kilometres of hairpin bends, while the train takes eight minutes today. With the MareMonti, it takes only a few minutes more, even at the pace of someone pedalling with a child on a bike seat and stopping whenever an opening in the rock reveals a small cove. Those who give up the car here actually gain time.
The path emerges into the open on the seafront promenade of Bonassola. It is worth leaving the bikes at the entrance to the village and walking into the small, traffic-free centre. The parish church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria houses many maritime votive offerings. They recall an ancient fear: in 1569, more than seventy men signed here the rules of a mutual aid society — one of the earliest forms of insurance in Liguria. The society collected money to ransom fellow villagers captured by Saracen and Barbary corsairs, who set out on their raids from the coasts of Algeria and Tunisia: a true scourge for this territory.
The second stretch of the cycling and walking path runs almost entirely through tunnels and ends at Framura station. You expect to find a village, but along the coast there is only a landing among the rocks — deserted in autumn, with colourful boats hauled ashore among piles of ropes. The hamlets lie higher up, scattered across the hillside. Just before the station, from the Vandarecca locality, a short path descends to Porto Pidocchio, a deep inlet of dark sand squeezed between rock faces. In the past, manganese from nearby quarries — now abandoned — was unloaded on these beaches. For those happy with a short and easy ride, the return journey is along the same path, and if the children are truly exhausted, you can also go back by train from Framura or Bonassola.
From Framura station, you shift down into low gear. The road climbs steeply to Anzo, the first hamlet, with its medieval houses lined along the street and a watchtower, then settles into a steady gradient — there is even time to turn and gaze at the cobalt-blue sea and the slate rooftops of the hamlets below. Costa is the highest: it has a single straight street flanked by two rows of coloured houses and the parish church of San Martino, documented as far back as the twelfth century, whose bell tower was originally a lookout tower. Below, the sea broadens out, and you can make out the line of the coast travelled that morning — but through the heart of the mountain.
You cross the ridge at La Foce, among olive trees and lemon trees, then the road bends towards Bonassola and passes through its oldest hamlets. The first settlements in the area arose up here, at Montaretto and Reggimonti, in a more sheltered and easily defensible position against Saracen raiders. The coastal village, which appears from above nestled in a small cove, came later, between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Montaretto sits at around 300 metres, well sheltered by the mountains yet not too far from the sea, among olive groves and pine woods. A short detour from the route leads into the village, where it is possible, from early afternoon, to stop for a bite to eat, or even to stay the night. After the war, twelve residents of the hamlet wanted a place to come together to dance and discuss politics: the memory of the partisan war was still very much alive. The land was purchased in 1960. The work, carried out largely by volunteers and paid for through festivities and contributions from the inhabitants, was completed in 1968. In 1970 the village shop opened — today the local grocery store — along with the social club.
The Casa del Popolo is still run by volunteer members, and the club on the upper floor opens every day. The women of the village work in the kitchen, and their traditional cooking is well known throughout the Riviera di Levante. The dish to seek out is the gattafin — a large fried raviolo filled with herbs that grow in the olive grove, such as salad burnet and borage, together with garden chard. It was the food that quarry workers used to take to the job. On the descent, blocks of the prized red Levanto marble are clearly visible in the only still-active quarry in the area, right along the route.
The hostel is two minutes from the centre, in the primary school that functioned until 1989. The municipality of Bonassola has entrusted it to an association, and young volunteers built the kitchen and the large common room, heated by an old stove. From the garden with the olive trees, you can see the sea. It is open all year round on a self-managed basis, and hosts ceramics workshops and, between November and December, walks among the colours of autumn. From 15 October to 15 April, paragliders take off from these heights above the gulf of Bonassola. The return to Levanto is a long descent. From the final bends you can see the entire gulf, the Ghiararo plain and, at the far end towards the headland of the Pietra, the grand Liberty-style villas from the early twentieth century. Down there, in the 1930s, illustrious holidaymakers danced at the Casino. A very different scene from that of the Casa del Popolo in Montaretto.
Once the bike has been returned to the rental shop, the excursion can only end with a visit to Levanto, climbing on foot into the old village, gathered on a rise on the eastern side of the gulf. People lived here even before the Romans, and the good natural harbour made Levanto a seafaring town throughout the Middle Ages. A fief of the Malaspina and then the Da Passano families, in 1229 it submitted to Genova, which in 1265 enclosed it with a ring of walls: the Torre dell'Orologio survives from this period. Overlooking Piazza del Popolo — where a canal port once entered from the mouth of the rio Cantarana — stands the thirteenth-century municipal loggia, with five arches and capitals in green stone, one of the few remaining in Liguria. Higher up, the church of Sant'Andrea displays its façade of alternating bands of white Carrara marble and local green stone, with a marble rose window. Inside is kept a fourteenth-century Black Crucifix which, according to legend, was found on the beach of Vallesanta, just a few steps from where the first tunnel begins today.
The seafront tells the story of another era. The nineteenth-century railway brought the first holidaymakers, and the wealthiest families built their villas overlooking the beach, towards the Punta della Pietra headland. The last one, perched directly above the sea and well sheltered within its magnificent gardens, is Villa Agnelli. In the 1930s the Casino was built in rationalist style — the only building on the seafront besides the old station. Before the war it was frequented by distinguished summer visitors, members of the Agnelli clan, and even Mussolini with his family. In the late 1960s it was run by Gino Paoli, the singer-songwriter who passed away last March. Having settled in Levanto in 1968, he spent three years as an innkeeper, running the bar, the dance hall and the pizzeria on the beach. He didn't get rich, but everyone in Levanto had a wonderful time.
The MareMonti cycling and pedestrian path stretches 5.6 kilometres, from Vallesanta to Framura station, plus roughly one kilometre of urban roads from Levanto station. It is paved, flat and almost entirely in tunnel, shared with pedestrians: ride at a leisurely pace, keeping to your own lane. It is suitable for children, whether on a child seat or in a trailer, and the round trip can comfortably be done in half a day with plenty of stops.
The full loop covers 22.6 kilometres, with around 500 metres of climbing and the same of descent, starting and finishing at Levanto station. You follow the cycling path as far as Framura, then climb to Costa and La Foce before returning via the upper hamlets of Bonassola, reaching an altitude of 400 metres. The ascent includes a few short ramps steeper than 10 per cent, and on some stretches of municipal road the surface is uneven. In autumn traffic is not light — it is non-existent. It is a short route, but suited to fit cyclists or anyone riding an e-bike. A flashing light is useful inside the tunnels, and on the upper roads the wind can make itself felt.
November is a good month. Sunny days are still frequent, the beach facilities are closed, and on the trails and the path you mainly meet locals. Levanto, Bonassola and Framura are all stations on the Genova–La Spezia line, served by regional trains that carry bicycles. In Levanto, hire shops in the town centre also rent e-bikes, child seats and trailers. Everything you need to set off is gathered in the MareMonti listing on SlowMap. You will find descriptions of both routes, their physical and technical difficulty ratings, a GPS track of the loop to download on your phone or navigator — including the detour to Montaretto — and practical information with links to train services, hire shops and accommodation.