Located at the gateway to the Cinque Terre, Levanto is a town of extraordinary beauty, set in a green valley overlooking the sea, where land and water meet in a unique natural contrast: the sea between the mountains.
Surrounded by small hamlets made up of clusters of houses nestled into the hills, Levanto opens onto a wide gulf, with cliffs and beaches dotted with small beach establishments during the summer season. But Levanto is not only a summer destination: thanks to its historic centre and the scenic trails connecting it to the Cinque Terre, it offers visitors an authentic experience all year round.
The surrounding area and the trails of the Cinque Terre are part of a protected natural landscape. This is why Levanto has preserved its natural and unspoilt beauty, its traditions, its customs and its mainly agricultural culture, shaped by generations without losing its identity over time.
A perfect example is the famous terraced landscape, created to hold back the steep and difficult land. These terraces are supported by traditional dry-stone walls, which blend harmoniously into the scenery and are often compared, for their scale and importance, to a majestic wall built by human hands.
Here, travellers can leave the car behind and explore the area on foot, walking along wonderful sea-view trails, taking advantage of convenient boat services or using the frequent trains that connect Levanto with the Cinque Terre and the entire Ligurian coast.
For art and history lovers, Levanto offers important medieval monuments: the ancient walls, the characteristic narrow streets of the historic centre known as caruggi, with their decorative and grotesque details, the Clock Tower and the Medieval Loggia, once an ancient maritime market. Inside the Loggia, a recently discovered and restored fresco dates back to around the year 1000.
From the same period, the Church of Sant'Andrea is one of the town's most important monuments, with its central naves and finely crafted rose window on the white Carrara marble façade. Overlooking the town in a strategic position, the majestic Castle is still clearly visible from the sea.