Known as the “Pearl of Tigullio”, after the gulf it overlooks, this town certainly lives up to its moniker. Framed between the sea and the mountains with Liguria’s classic color palette, Santa Margherita Ligure offers lots to do, many places to eat, plenty of beachfront, and buckets of charm.
Vestiges of its storied past are found today in the likes of the 17th-century hilltop Villa Durazzo with its spectacular Italian garden, originally a summer residence for wealthy silk merchants from Genova; the central Castello di Santa Margherita Ligure, constructed in 1550 to protect the city against pirates; and, farther up the coast, the Abbazia di San Fruttuoso, a Benedictine monastery from the 10th century only reachable by foot or boat.
