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Lavagna
Tourist information - Lavagna
The village of Lavagna takes its name from the slate rock, in Ligurian called "lavagna". Slate was formed in this area 70 million years ago in concurrence with the formation of the Alps.
Lavagna, a tourist town with magnificent beaches, was most probably founded in the 10th century and linked its history to the Earls of Fieschi, an important Genoese family, involved in a famous and unsuccessful conspiracy against the Doria family. The Fieschi increased their power thanks to trading. Lavagna and its surrounding villages owe this family the architectural monumental works, such as the Basilica of San Salvatore, in the municipality of Cogorno, a few kilometres from the hinterland. The Fieschi lived their apogee in the '300s with the accession to the papal throne of Sinibaldo, Innocent IV, and a few years after his death, with his nephew Ottobuono (Adrian V).
The town represents the natural outlet for the market of slate, for which it has become famous for centuries. Due to the difficulties in transporting it, slate was initially used directly on site where it was extracted, but it began slowly to decorate the Ligurian hinterland with roofs, houses, stairs and various objects made with this black stone that time turns grey. Only towards the mid '800s, thanks to the construction of a road network, slate was transported below. Lavagna became, in this way, the port of loading of the slabs of stone that today reach the whole world. In the last decades, Lavagna has stimulated many tourist activities by providing itself with a modern port and of a wide range of structures and services. Lavagna offers tourists a land rich of traditions and folklore, a sea rich of bays and wonderful gorges, fabulous beaches, a mild weather, gentle seasons, a friendly landscape. And for boating lovers, Lavagna is know mainly as berthing. In a surface of 290.000 sq. m.
Lavagna offers 1600 parking places for boats up to 50 meters in length; it is the biggest tourist port of the Mediterraneo. It would be a pity if those who arrive from the sea stop here without going to the heart of the ancient town or without using the bathing and tourist establishments of Lavagna. A simple walk in Roma Street would be enough, for example, not to regret having taken some time on land. In the old houses of this charming street, there is a succession of shops with inviting windows that release a particular charm that only the shopping in holiday places can give.
Lavagna has a bathing "extension" in its eastern suburb: Cavi. Beaches, establishments, swimming pools, sport equipment, hotels, apartment hotels, guest houses, entertainment sites, restaurant: Lavagna has all this. From a simple dive in the clear sea to a breathtaking paraglide, from canoeing to riding practised in the open spaces of the hinterland, from windsurf to open-sea sailing: all this is possible at Lavagna and at its bathing resort. Moving around Lavagna is pleasant and easy: from here it is possible to reach in a short time the other places of Tigullio and follow the route preferred for discovering Fontanabuona valley. In this valley, where slate is extracted and machined, the natural and environmental beauties still preserve a primitive charm that offer a typical landscape of the Ligurian Apennine.
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