Stretching from southern France’s gilded Côte d’Azur to the northern tip of sunny Tuscany, Liguria is enviably blessed in its location, climate and geography. One of Italy’s smallest regions, this ‘Italian Riviera’ forms a thin, coast-hugging arc – fronted by a delightful seaside and backed by steeply-climbing mountains that efficiently shelter the beaches from any cold northern air.
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The climate is a dream, with relatively cool and fresh summers yielding to mild and bright winters. No wonder then that Liguria is one of Italy’s most visited regions and a very popular spot for retirees and second-home-owners. It’s a cosmopolitan place – elegant yet relaxed, with none of the Côte d’Azur’s snootiness. And thanks to its long status as a holiday-heaven, it enjoys an excellent transport infrastructure and easy access. |
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With popularity comes expense, of course. Liguria is not a cheap region for property, but it remains a good investment. Homes here are always in demand and holiday rental prospects are particularly plentiful. But you need not spend a fortune to buy into this beautiful place. Liguria sees a big variation in prices across its relatively small area. In a nutshell, the coast is expensive, but costs tumble even just a short distance inland.
| Over recent years, an increasing number of Brits have discovered the delights of Liguria’s hilly hinterland – especially in the region’s western half – and there are lots of good-value options still available here, often with the sea just ten minutes away. It’s still possible to find affordable apartments on the seaside too, particularly in the region’s west, which is currently cheaper than the east. |
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Certainly Liguria’s lovely coastline presents a much less expensive prospect than anywhere on the geographically-similar Côte d’Azur. And the buildings are a lot prettier too!
European artists and intellectuals – many of them British – were the first to draw international attention to the sensual delights of Liguria, when they made exploratory visits here in the 18th and 19th centuries. The British travelling public were particularly fond of the place in late Victorian times – especially as a warm, healthy location to convalesce from illness or just to hide from the horrors of northern winter.
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Belle Epoque hotels and villas sprang up in great profusion to accommodate these fin-de-siècle visitors, and still contribute to the extremely attractive architecture of the region. Brits continued to adore Liguria through the 1950s, 60s and 70s, but then shifted their focus to Tuscany, later to Umbria, and to Italy’s northern lakes. Other European nationalities, meanwhile, maintained a rather more constant affection for the Italian Riviera. |
Naturally, with all this attention, Liguria became a very populous and well-developed place. The region is currently home to about two million people – 75% of whom live on the coast, leaving the mountainous hinterland a peaceful place of big vistas, sleepy hilltop villages, and thick vegetation. (Liguria is in fact Italy’s most heavily wooded region, more than 50% covered in trees.) The population on the coast is further swelled by four million visitors each year. But Liguria’s seaside somehow manages to avoid feeling over-crowded or over-developed. There are sensible restrictions on new building here, safeguarding the region’s appeal and therefore its future. Of its two million permanent residents, about 50,000 are ex-pats – mostly French and Germans, but with a thousand or more British.
Today’s British settlers – and holiday-home-owners – are much more likely than their French or German counterparts to choose a home in the mountainous hinterland rather than by the beach. Inland Liguria is a different world to the region’s brightly pastel-coloured coast. Here charming old settlements with small populations cling to hilltops and to the sides of mountains, invariably appearing from a distance as a clutch of terra cotta rooftops spilling round a delicate campanile.
| The olive leaves and evergreen bushes of the coast slowly cede inland to towering chestnut trees, shaggy oaks and beeches. Even the climate shifts by degrees towards hotter summers and colder winters. There’s more space up here, more tranquillity. And, of course, property prices drop dramatically in inverse proportion to altitude. Especially in the hilly west, buyers have found very good-value property on offer (i.e., fully-habitable homes with two bedrooms less than ten miles from the sea for between €100,000 and €200,000). [All figures accurate at time of writing in 2008.] |
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Liguria’s coastline neatly divides into two halves, with regional capital Genoa in the middle. The western half was historically the first to attract tourists, and there are some venerable old resorts here such as Bordighera, Ospedaletti and San Remo. Western beaches tend to be sandy, and the hinterland rises through pretty hills before reaching stiffer heights. The eastern half has been considered more chic in recent decades.
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It’s home to super-pricy and arguably over-hyped spots like Portofino and the Cinque Terre, as well as lovely, less famous resorts such as Santa Margherita Ligure and Sestri Levante. Eastern beaches are often small or pebbly, and the hinterland tends to rise much more suddenly and dramatically. Cliff-bound fishing villages and inaccessibly steep terrain help give this part of Liguria its rather exclusive air. Beachside property is expensive everywhere, but generally pricier in the east than the west. Homes in Portofino and the Cinque Terre sell for astronomical sums, on the rare occasions when anything here comes on the market. |
In beach resorts in Liguria’s western half, you should expect to pay around €250,000 for a two-bedroom apartment. But Mark Slaviero, director of the estate agency Homes in Italy, agrees that most British buyers aren’t looking at the Ligurian coast these days, preferring to look at the pretty little villages further inland. “I think the coastal towns are too busy and modern for the UK market,” he says.
“We haven’t had anyone interested in a modern seaside apartment for the past four years, and have stopped advertising properties here.” Mark notes that the high prices on Liguria’s coast have stabilized, while prices inland are still rising. He adds that “The word on the ground in Liguria at the moment is that the local market is blocked. Therefore more and more vendors are looking overseas for buyers. I think this puts British buyers in a very good position. Vendors are more open than usual to offers below the asking price.”
Linda Travella, of the long-running estate agency Casa Travella, agrees that western Liguria’s hinterland currently represents one of the most stable markets for investors. Although prices tumble the further inland you go, Linda advises buyers to limit their search to no further than ten miles from the sea. This way, you’ll optimise what you save by buying inland without compromising your future resale value or holiday rentability. As if underlying the point that the western interior is where Liguria’s market is currently most fluid and interesting, anyone conducting a property search on the internet will notice that it’s much easier to find properties for sale here than anywhere else in Liguria. Lots of agents are clearly interested in listing properties in this area. At the other end of the scale, seekers after property on Liguria’s expensive eastern coast will find very few online listings. The market here is quite static, because the prices are so high, and because most owners aren’t interested in selling.
Buyers are usually budget-driven, so it’s helpful to outline exactly what kind of properties you can expect to be able to buy in different price ranges in Liguria. Here are some guidelines based on a survey of hundreds of properties currently offered for sale [in 2008]. For those of you hoping to spend less than €100,000, the hinterland behind western Liguria’s golden beaches should probably be your prime target. Here you might find habitable one-bedroom village apartments for €40,000-€85,000, or two-bedroom versions for €55,000-€97,000. You might also seek a home to restore in this area. Small, ramshackle rustic houses with land can be had for as little as €30,000 – and you’ll probably spend the same amount again or more bringing them up to a state of comfort. Inexpensive properties like these above are unlikely to rake in huge rental returns, of course. But as holiday homes in a beautiful landscape with relatively easy access to sunny beaches, they’re great value.
Buyers looking to spend between €100,000 and €200,000 will find lots of appealing options in Liguria. Most of these options are, again, in the hilly-to-mountainous hinterland of the western coast, but you can also find the occasional rustico to restore in the hills of Liguria’s eastern half, or indeed pick up a one-bedroom apartment in a large western seaside resort like San Remo. In the western hinterland, just a few kilometers from the sea, you can get an apartment, townhouse or cottage with up to three bedrooms for €120,000-€190,000. You could also choose to restore a home round here, buying a tumbledown country house for around €100,000 and spending about the same again on fixing it up. Obviously a property with two or more bedrooms less than ten miles from a beach is going to attract a reasonable number of rental clients during the summer. You might expect €500-€700 a week on a two-bedroom apartment in a little hilltown.
For between €200,000 and €400,000, you can consider one- and two-bedroom apartments in long-established seaside resorts like Bordighera and Ospedaletti, which you might rent out for €800 per week. You can consider country houses in various states of repair near eastern coastal towns like La Spezia. Or townhouses in the eastern hinterland. One- and two-bedroom apartments in La Spezia itself or in the nearby resort of Lérici tend to go for between €200,000 and €400,000. In the western hinterland, meanwhile, you’d be looking at two- and three- bedroom stone houses less than ten miles from the sea and nicely positioned for panoramic views.
For between €400,000 and €800,000, you could look at increasingly grand apartments in venerable western beach-resorts, and at smaller properties in various places along the eastern coast. You might get a two-bed apartment in lovely Portovénere for €440,000, or a three-bed townhouse for €550,000. If you want to spend a million euros or more, Liguria has plenty of delicious villas in delightful settings to tempt you. This region excels in buildings which are beautifully designed both inside and out, and big money yields considerable aesthetic rewards here.
It’s worth spending a few moments discussing Liguria’s building styles in greater depth. As we’ve already noted, the region’s coast is well-stocked with Art Nouveau hotels and villas, and you’ll also spot consciously exotic features reminiscent of Swiss chalets, Spanish haciendas and so on. There’s a playful, fantastical flavour to Liguria’s architecture. Certainly there’s lots of colour – with brightly-painted walls being ubiquitous except in only the most remote villages. In particular, the region distinguishes itself with endlessly inventive trompe l’ œil work across the outer walls of townhouses. Cleverly painted to look like the real thing, imaginary balconies, balustrades, shutters, ledges and ornament adorn the smooth external plaster of buildings. Walking round a town can be like walking around a gallery, and you can’t help but smile at the cheery fantasy of it all.
Inland towns – especially those in the east – are almost as likely as seaside resorts to maintain Liguria’s tradition of colourful buildings awash with trompe l’ œil. But there are plain stone homes inland too, especially in the countryside. Note that Liguria is not a region of Tuscan-style farmhouses. The steep terrain has always restricted ambitious agriculture. Long an efficient and prosperous region, Liguria has few absolute ruins to restore. There are plenty of properties needing a fair bit of renovation, but there are also a great many rural and village homes which come to market already beautifully restored.
One interesting (and award-winning) restoration project in Liguria concerns the medieval hill-village of Colletta di Castelbianco in the western hinterland, fifteen minutes’ drive from the sea. Using traditional materials and local craftsmen, but also incorporating super hi-tech features like high-speed broadband throughout, this whole settlement was slicked up and divided into apartments by the development company Realitalia. (The apartments sell for €137,000 and upward.) The company are currently finishing a new project on the coast, a complex called Dominio San Sebastiano. Eco-consciously designed to use only about 5% of the energy used to heat and cool normal homes, these luxurious apartments are arranged around a central square and enjoy access to a private beach, large pool, and shared spa centre. Prices are about €300,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and more than €600,000 for a two-bed, and Realitalia oversee and manage all holiday lets for apartment-owners.
[All quoted prices accurate in 2008]
This corner of Liguria has all the advantages of being close to the French border (and Nice airport), but remains miraculously untouched by any of the Côte d’Azur’s snootiness. There are abundant sandy beaches overlooked by family-friendly resort-towns – often with lively Belle Epoque architecture. The climate is exceptionally gentle, with flower-growing being a big local business, and flowers blooming even in February. Bordighera and Ospedaletti are venerable old resorts in this area, but the granddaddy of them all is elegant, crumbling San Remo – with its labyrinthine old lanes, faded casino, daily flower market and designer shopping bargains. Set on a large sheltered bay backed by an amphitheatre of hills, property prices in San Remo ought to be ruinous, but often aren’t. While some feel that Liguria’s western seaside lacks the chic, bijou charm of the expensive east, the west’s hilly hinterland dotted with ancient villages seem to meet with universal praise, and affordable property here has encouraged quite a bit of ex-pat settlement. Pretty inland villages such as Apricale, Dolceacqua and mountaintop Triora are becoming increasingly firm fixtures on the tourist trail. While not quite as reliable as the coastal resorts, there are fairly good rental prospects in the western hinterland, and a great lifestyle on offer.
This stretch of Liguria’s coast is not well-known to Brits, but its string of family-oriented resorts on sandy beaches are very popular with Italians and other nationalities – perhaps especially Diano Marina. The majority of Liguria’s least expensive seaside property lies in this central western part, and you should note that two- and three-bedroom homes represent particularly good value here. There are pleasant, honest working towns along this coast too. Impéria is a business-like port with a charming old quarter, and property prices in its vicinity are still reasonable. Industrious Savona has a largely modern flavour thanks to extensive war-damage and rebuilding, but retains its historic core and huge cathedral full of Renaissance marbles. From Savona to Genoa the quality of beaches and swimming declines, but there are some lovely little towns, such as Albissola and Varazze. Inland, the terrain of Liguria’s central west quickly climbs to leafy heights, cut through with winding mountain roads and sprinkled with charming little hilltowns and villages. As everywhere in the region, property prices tumble with the increase in altitude.
Salty sea-dog Genoa, still Italy’s largest port, has thrived on seaborne trade for 1,500 years. It’s a very lively and colourful city, not overlarge at just 600,000 inhabitants. Its gloriously eclectic architecture jumbles up and down steep hillsides – glossy boutiques flanking Art Nouveau villas nestling beside Renaissance palaces rubbing up against medieval tenements. Much of the shore is obscured by warehouses and container bases, but a slick new marina offers art venues, café life, and perhaps the world’s best aquarium. Hugging the Mediterranean, the city is 30km long but only 3km wide. It has absorbed what used to be separate settlements – two examples being Pegli to the west and Nervi to the east, both surprisingly serene seaside towns popular with commuters. For property, unpretentious Genoa is one of the more affordable spots in Liguria, with larger properties representing particularly good value. The city’s day-to-day living costs are also reasonable. Buyers hoping to garner rental returns should consider targeting longer-term tenants, as well as tapping into the modest holiday lets market here.
East of Genoa, Liguria’s coastline is much steeper and rockier than in the west. Tiny cliff-bound coves sit at the feet of leafy slopes dotted with colourful villas. Many deem it more romantic terrain than the flatter west, and eastern Liguria has for several decades been more popular with holidaymaking Brits. Visitors come in their hundreds of thousands to wander secluded inlets and steep footpaths, admiring the vivid blue and turquoise sea, the tall cliffs sprouting evergreens, the fruit-coloured houses and the white luxury yachts. The Monte di Portofino area is especially chic and desirable, with some astronomical property costs. Prices in dainty Portofino are prohibitive to most, but Santa Margherita Ligure and Rapallo are larger and slightly less exclusive places to consider if you want to buy on this mini-peninsula. East of Monte di Portofino, Chiávari and Lavagna each have a good stretch of sand, while cheery Sestri Levante has two, and a stunning central boulevard to boot. Inland from here, green slopes and painted villages abound. An especially charming spot is Varese Ligure, a medieval market town with arcaded streets. Lower prices and good roads to the sea make the inland east an attractive proposition.
A large modern town with a giant naval base and a smattering of heavy industry, La Spezia is a pleasant enough place. But its stunning neighbours are what draw the tourist’s attention down to this part of Liguria. They come primarily for the Cinque Terre – five cliff-bound villages formerly accessible only by boat, where terraces have been carved into the near-vertical landscape to hold brightly-painted homes and endless grapevines. There are few bargains to be had in these five semi-accessible and much-sought-after locales, but superb rental returns await anyone able to secure a place. Note that the villages don’t permit cars, and that their sleepy tranquillity vanishes at the height of the tourist season. Elsewhere in Liguria’s extreme east are beautiful Portovénere with its pink and yellow tower-houses staring serenely over the water, and swish Lérici with its castle, beaches and marina. Both towns are almost as popular and pricy as the Cinque Terre. Bargain-hunters should definitely look inland, where prices start tumbling even just a short distance from the sea.
Mary Marston and her husband Stuart, based in Kent, own a two-bedroom apartment in a 17th-century building five minutes from the coast in western Liguria. They visit four or five times a year, and plan to spend a lot more time in their adopted village, Poggi, when they retire.
“We’ve always loved Italy”, Mary explains. “We love the people, the country, the food, the climate. I’ve been learning Italian for years. One time we went to Nice for a short break and travelled up the coast into Liguria. We just fell in love with it. Our apartment is in an old converted village house, built on a ridge, with views down to the sea. We have two bedrooms on the first floor and then above that we have one long room with a loggia at one end giving views of the sea and the mountains. We’ve got vaulted ceilings, and arched windowframes – lovely historical details. The people in the village have been absolutely brilliant. So friendly and helpful. We’re just part of the community now. Hardly anyone speaks English, of course.”
Why did Liguria especially appeal to the couple? “The scenery is so spectacular,” Mary begins. “The coast is beautiful because the mountains just go straight into the sea. We’ve got easy access to the sea and the mountains. It’s not spoilt, there’s not a lot of development. They might be restoring old village houses, or building new Italian-style homes in Impéria or nice country houses out in the olive groves, but there are no complexes and no blocks of flats. In Liguria everything is still very Italian. Very few people speak English where we are. And it’s Italians from Turin and Milan who come here for their summer holiday. Our local city Impéria is a working port, a real town not a summer resort. In the winter, things go on just the same round here. If you buy somewhere in a very touristy area, in the winter everything is dead. The weather is very, very good. Lots of mild days in the winter, lots of bright sunshine. And it’s easy to get here. We have actually driven to Liguria from England in one day. It’s twelve hours from Calais to our apartment. It can be done if necessary. Then you’ve got three airports, you’re not relying on just one – there’s Nice, Turin and Genoa. The place has everything we want.”
Mary and Stuart love their life in Poggi so much that they’ve just put their apartment on the market… so they can buy a bigger house in the village! “We’re committed now to a partly-finished house – a bit bigger, with some land – because when all our family come out there’s not really enough room with just two bedrooms. When my husband retires, we hope to spend a lot more time out here.” Have Mary and Stuart seen the value of their apartment increase since they bought it five years ago? “Yes, definitely. We should be making a good return on our investment. Our apartment’s almost doubled in price over the last five years.”
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