Soggiorna
Rapallo is best seen on foot, and the part that matters lies between the seafront and the lanes of the old town. The only two things that call for a journey are the sanctuary of Montallegro, on the hilltop, and San Michele di Pagana, beyond the harbour — and they are also the two that repay most.
Below, the sights in order of importance, not of location: if you are short of time, cut from the bottom.
The sanctuary of Montallegro, and why it comes first
The sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Montallegro stands on the hill behind the town and is tied to the apparition of 1557 to a local farmer, Giovanni Chichizola. You go up by cable car, which leaves from piazzale Federico Solari in the centre: 600 metres of ascent in eight minutes, in two cabins holding 24 people. It is the only aerial cableway of its kind still working in Liguria.
If you only have half a day, this is the thing to do. Not so much for the sanctuary — which is handsome — as for what you see from up there: the whole gulf, with the Portofino promontory on one side and the coast stretching towards Sestri Levante on the other. It is the view that explains the geography of the whole area in thirty seconds, and it is worth having seen on the first day rather than the last.
Walkers can go up or down on the paths: it is a real climb, for the morning and not for two in the afternoon in August.
Cable car times change with the season and the line closes for maintenance, usually in November and January. It is the only thing on this list that can be shut when you arrive: check the day before.
In the first days of July there is the Montallegro festival, which is the town's own festival. Anyone who lands in those days finds a different Rapallo: worth knowing in advance, one way or the other.
The castle on the water
It is the image associated with the town: a sixteenth-century fortress on a rock at the water's edge, joined to the promenade by a short causeway.
They built it after 1549, when the Ottoman fleet sacked the town. It is not stage scenery, it is a defence, and you understand it by looking at what it watches: it stands exactly where you can see something coming in off the open sea with time enough to raise the alarm.
Exhibitions are held inside, so it is worth checking what is on when you go. From outside it is in any case the point where everyone stops at sunset, and that is when it is at its best: the stone takes the colour and the town comes to a halt there.
San Michele di Pagana: the thing almost nobody looks for
Beyond the harbour, towards Santa Margherita, lies the hamlet of San Michele di Pagana. In the church of San Michele Arcangelo, attested by an inscription as early as 1133, hangs a Crucifixion by Van Dyck between saints Francis and Bernard, with the donor Francesco Orero, a Genoese noble who had a house here.
It was most probably painted during the artist's stay at San Michele between 1621 and 1624, and it is the only altarpiece Van Dyck painted in the whole of Liguria.
Put another way: in a hamlet church, above a beach, there is a painting that in any other town would be the first line of the guidebook. In Rapallo it is the third entry on this list because almost nobody knows it is there — not because it is worth less.
Around it lie the three coves: Pomaro, the beach in front of the village, and the two small free beaches of Trelo and Prelo, the latter reached by going down from the church itself.
The old town
- The carruggi: the narrow lanes behind the seafront, where the workshops are and where you really eat. There is no itinerary: you go in and wander.
- The medieval bridge known as Hannibal's: the attribution to the Carthaginian general is a fond legend nobody takes seriously. The bridge, though, is there and it is old, and the name tells you more about Rapallo than about Hannibal.
- The bandstand on the seafront: not a monument, but the point the town's evening turns around.
Bobbin lace, and villa Tigullio
Bobbin lace is a local craft tradition, with a museum devoted to it inside villa Tigullio, in Parco Casale. It is a short indoor visit: the card to play on a wet day, or when you have walked enough.
The park around it has a playground, a small botanical garden, a historic locomotive and the view over the gulf, so with children the stop stretches out by itself.
The seafront
Lungomare Vittorio Veneto is where you end up spending more time than you planned. It is flat and continuous, and the evening walk is the town's habit more than an attraction — but if I had to point to the moment when Rapallo is most itself, it is that one, not midday in the centre.
If you are short of time
- Two hours: the seafront as far as the castle, at sunset.
- Half a day: cable car up to Montallegro, and the seafront to the castle on the way back.
- A full day: add the lanes and the lace museum.
- Two days: on the second, San Michele di Pagana, or the boat to Portofino or San Fruttuoso from the pier.
With two days you can put together the centre, the sanctuary and the sea without rushing.
Frequently asked questions
What can you see in Rapallo in half a day?
The cable car to the sanctuary of Montallegro and, on the way back, the seafront as far as the castle on the water. It is the combination that gives you the overview of the gulf and the town's emblem.
Why is there a castle on the water at Rapallo?
It is a sixteenth-century fortress built after 1549, the year the Ottoman fleet sacked the town. It stands on a rock at the water's edge because it had to watch the open sea. Today it hosts exhibitions.
Is Hannibal's bridge in Rapallo really Hannibal's?
No. The attribution to the Carthaginian general is a local legend and does not hold: the bridge is medieval. The name is traditional and everyone uses it, but it is a name, not a date.
Where is the Van Dyck painting in Rapallo?
In the church of San Michele Arcangelo, in the hamlet of San Michele di Pagana, beyond the harbour. It is a Crucifixion between saints Francis and Bernard, most probably painted between 1621 and 1624, and it remains the only altarpiece Van Dyck made in the whole of Liguria.
What can you see in Rapallo when it rains?
The exhibitions in the castle on the water and the bobbin lace museum at villa Tigullio, inside Parco Casale: two short indoor visits. Rapallo is a town that lives all year round, so shops and places to eat stay open out of season too.