Lerici

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Comune di Lerici
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Liguria
Province	Province of La Spezia (SP)
Mayor	Emanuele Fresco (since May 28, 2002)

Elevation	0 m
Area	15 km²
Population
- Total (as of December 31, 2004)	10,802
- Density	738/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	44°05′N 09°55′E
Gentilic	Lericini
Dialing code	0187
Postal code	19032, 19036, 19030
Frazioni	San Terenzo, Tellaro, La Serra, Pugliola, Solaro, Muggiano, Pozzuolo, Venere Azzurra, Senato
Patron	Madonna of Maralunga
- Day	March 25
Location of Lerici in Italy
Website: www.comune.lerici.sp.it

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Lerici

Lerici is a town and commune in the province of La Spezia in Liguria (northern italy), part of the Italian Riviera. Its nearest bay is the Bay of Lerici.

View of Lerici at sunset.

1 History
2 Lerici
3 Notable people
4 Culture
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Lerici

Lerici is locatedjust 11 km south of La Spezia and is by all means worth a visit.

One of the main sights in Lerici is the notorious Castle controlling the entrance of Il Golfo di La Spezia.

Today the Castle is the frame of a museum of palaeontology and can be reached within 10 minutes walk from the central square ‘Piazza Garibaldi’ of Lerici.

More information can be found on the official site of the commune of Lerici, which will give you links to local Hotel's and Guest house's, Restaurant's and Pizzeria’s, Museum's and Art Galleries as will as giving you practical information on public transport and cultural events throughout the year.

Lerici is a small and sweet town which although dependent on tourism has it life of its own making visits off season even more attractive. Il Golfo di Lerici, aka Golfo dei Poeti, can be as romantic as the occasion may require and one of the traditional restaurants in the little port carrying the same name 'Golfo dei Poeti' serves you a most famous Spaghetti di Casa said to have been highly appraised by the Queen Paola of Belgium also of Italian origin.

The beaches of Lerici and San Terenzo (the neighbouring town) are the first beaches south of the fabulous Cinque Terre area between Genova and La Spezia. The beaches are few and often over-crowded in high season, but in June and September you will enjoy the mild climate the empty beaches the great eating and the quiet life of a traditional village on the Italian north west coast.

If you wish to visit the Cinque Terre the boat leaves from the central square Piazza Garibaldi up to several times a day depending of the season.

This same boat also brings you to Portovenere right in front of Lerici.

[edit] Notable people

Italian author Mario Soldati had a residence in the frazione of Tellaro.

English writers Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley lived some three miles north in an isolated old boat house called Casa Magni, and anchored their sailing boat in Lerici. Their closest neighbors were the villagers of the tiny hamlet of San Terenzo. Percy Bysshe Shelley was drowned on July 8, 1822 in the Bay of Spezia, returning to Lerici from a journey to Leghorn and Pisa. His corpse eventually washed up on the beach at Viareggio, located approximately halfway between Livorno and Lerici. The popularity of Lerici with the Shelleys and with Lord Byron earned the Golfo di Lerici its nickname as the Golfo dei Poeti.

Hungarian author Baroness Emmuska Orczy, author of The Scarlet Pimpernel had a villa built in the hills above Lerici, near the locality of Bellavista, and called it La Padula ^[1]. Orczy and her husband Montague Barstow spent several months there in the 1930s - alternating between La Padula, Villa Bijou in Monte Carlo, and trips to England. Eventually they decided to abandon fascist Italy for Villa Bijou. La Padula still stands today.