Soggiorna
A city grown by accretion scatters its things about. La Spezia was planned, and it shows: almost everything worth seeing lies along a single pedestrian street, or a little above it.
That street is Via del Prione. It crosses the old centre from end to end, the museums and squares open off it, and it is the only orientation you need. Anyone who arrives at the station and turns into it has already solved the problem of getting around.
The Lia Museum, at number 234
At 234 Via del Prione is the best thing in the city: the Amedeo Lia Museum.
It has a double nature worth keeping in mind as you go in. The container is the convent of the Minims of St Francis of Paola, built from 1616. The contents are a twentieth-century private collection: the one the businessman Amedeo Lia gave to the city, open to the public since 1996.
So it is not a civic museum layered over centuries, nor a house-museum. It is one person's collection, placed inside a building four centuries older. The two do not match, and that is exactly why it works.
The castle, which is older than the city
On the Poggio hill, above the roofs, stands Castello San Giorgio: a fortification of medieval origin, thirteenth century.
Pause on that. The modern city below was born after 1861. The castle is six hundred years older. It is the only thing in La Spezia older than La Spezia — a piece of medieval village left on the summit while an industrial city grew beneath it.
Today it houses the Archaeological Museum, and here the coincidence closes: the finds come from necropolises excavated in the region — from the people who lived on this gulf long before anyone decided to build a city on it. The oldest part of La Spezia holds the oldest things in the gulf.
The climb repays itself on the view alone, in any case.
The Naval Technical Museum, where the history becomes visible
Beside the arsenal is the Naval Technical Museum. It is where the reason this city exists stops being a story and becomes something to look at: models, instruments, pieces of ships.
If you have read why La Spezia went from fifteen thousand inhabitants to a hundred and twenty-three thousand — it is in La Spezia: the complete guide — this is the museum that shows it to you.
The Umbertino quarter, which is not a monument
It has no ticket and appears on no list, but it is worth a walk: the Umbertino is the quarter built to house the workers arriving for the arsenal.
Straight streets, regular blocks, buildings all of one height. It is not picturesque and does not mean to be: it is fast construction for a population that was doubling. Walking through it after seeing the thirteenth-century castle gives you the measure of what happened here in eighty years.
What NOT to expect
There is no postcard medieval centre. What at Vernazza or Portovenere is the reason for the trip does not exist here: the centre is nineteenth-century, regular and wide.
The arsenal cannot be freely visited. It is a working naval base. What you can see of it is the museum beside it.
It is not a full day. Taken calmly, Via del Prione, the Lia Museum and the castle come to half a day. That is the right slice to carve out before taking the train to the Cinque Terre, and how to get here is in getting to La Spezia.
Frequently asked questions
What can you see in La Spezia in half a day?
Via del Prione, the pedestrian street of the centre; the Amedeo Lia Museum at number 234; and Castello San Giorgio on the Poggio hill. If time remains, the Naval Technical Museum beside the arsenal.
What is the Amedeo Lia Museum?
The private collection Amedeo Lia gave to the city, open to the public since 1996. It is at 234 Via del Prione, inside the convent of the Minims of St Francis of Paola built from 1616.
How old is Castello San Giorgio?
It is of medieval origin, thirteenth century: six hundred years older than the modern city below it, which dates from after 1861. It houses the Archaeological Museum.
Can you visit La Spezia's military arsenal?
No, it is a working naval base. What you can see of it is the Naval Technical Museum next door.
Is the Umbertino quarter worth seeing?
It is not a monument and has no ticket, but yes: it is the quarter built for the arsenal workers, with straight streets and regular blocks. It gives you the measure of how fast the city grew.