la spezia

La Spezia is the main town of the enchanting Cinque Terre Riviera. It is the main administrative centre, head of Province and from its train station and pier vistors can depart at ease for unforgettable tours of the area.
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Its lively centre, with beautiful museums and colouful food market are a must for visitors of all ages. Lots of musical and gastronomical, oenological event happen here through all the year. 

The province of La Spezia
The Province of La Spezia is extraordinarily beautiful, a complete micro-cosm in which rivers, mountains, plains, islands, hills and the sea live in harmony.
Apparently modern if looking at its main town and touristic sea spots, it can offer spaces of antique history, from the bold castle of the Gulf to the archeological zone in Luni and to the Malaspina garrison at Val di Magra, from the antique and welcoming boroughts in Vara, to the seagreen landscape and to the thousand year old patience of the Cinque Terre and the Riviera.



A Province made to be enjoyed by young people and those who love a plain contact with a territory that up to today has been providently far from mass - touristic consumes and from the standard welcoming methods.
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Things to see
•• The S. Giorgio Castle (between via XXVII Marzo and via dei Colli): built on a primitive isolated tower, was destroyed, but rebuilt at the end of the year l300 along with the walls surrounding the village of Spedia; in 1605 it was fortified in order to face times of danger. It is made of a lower square floor, the oldest part, and a higher rectangular floor, with four side bastions; in these years it is being restored.
•• The Castle of Coderone, rises on the hill near Biassa.
It was built in 1273 by Abedonio Federico and Canuto de Saluto in honour to the people from Genova, and was later transformed into a luxurious palace by Baldassare Biasse in the XVI century; it later became a cemetery area, today its a ruin.
•• Besides the Civic Museum and the Naval Museum, other attraction are: the seafront and the public gardens designed by the painter F. Del Santo (19th century), along with the colourful exotic flower-beds and the monument to G. Garibaldi built by Garella;
•• the oldest part of the city around via del Prione and S. Agostino Square;
•• the S. Maria Assunta Church (Beverini Square), where the polycrome terracotta by Andrea Della Robbia can be found, also the picture by G.B. Casoni "The Moltiplicaton of The Bread", the wooden cross of the year 1300, the statues of Maragliano (18th century) and the operas by Fiasella, Lomi and Del Santo;
•• the Our Lord Church of the Snow (v.le Garibaldi), where a statue to S. Giovanni Bosco by Angiolo Del Santo can be found, along with 11th c. ancient picture of the Madonna, saved from an old oratory destroyed during the building ofthe ship-yard;
•• the Our Lord Church of Health (Brin Square), bearing pictures by Giovanni A. De Ferrari and by Correggio, projected by the architect Dufour in 1887; the Pieve of Marinasco, built in the 10th century and modified in the 13th century, later restored in 1780; the Pieve of San Venerio (in via della Pieve in Migliarina), rebuilt in 1085 in a paleo-christian cemetery area and later transformed; splendid views can be admired from the hills that look upon the city, from the roads than run along the sea-front and from Isola;
•• the old villages of Biassa and Campiglia are very typical and interesting places to visit.
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History
The very first, nucleus of small houses, belonging to fishermen and salt-collectors, were very small and had no defence of any kind. They were built on a hillock caressed by the sea.
The first news ever written about this Territory of Spedia goes up to 1224.
In 1262 Nicolò Fieschi, a Guelph from Genova, ends his escape from his home town in Spedia, and here he starts to build the San Giorgio Castle which will be soon destroyed by the ghibelline, the opponent faction.
At the time, the Republic of Genova was espanding its dominion over all Liguria. Up to half of the 14th century, the Spedia territory depended on the Podesteria di Carpena, an ancient village situated on the heights facing the gulf Soon, the Doge of Genova, Simon Boccanera, decided that Spedia be an independent Podesteria.
By the end of 14th century, city walls were built around Spedia for the first time, and the San Giorgio Castleî was rebuilt were it once stood.
At the end ofthe 15th century the new Podesteria enlarged, taking over Lunigiana Marittima and Vara Valley after destroying the castle in the Carpena Village with the help of the fellow Genovesi.
From this moment on, for quite a long time, the city of Spedia was bound to go through several political and military events, partly caused by the Spanish and French armies present on Italian territory at that time; and partly by the frequent and sudden incursions, driven by the barbarian corsairs in all the small towns on the sea front.
This situation leads to an inevitable economical and demographical crisis which stops the evolution of the area of Spedia for a long time. Only at  the end of the Napoleon era (1817) La Spezia begins to pick on were it left off years before, by joining the Reign of Sardegna along with the rest of the Liguria Republic.
Consequently La Spezia built its main and most important roads, and also built the military ship-yard.
The latter construction was suggested by Cavour and projected by Domenico Chiodo. Construction-work started in 1862 and the ship-yard was accomplished in 1869.
Napoleon had already thought about making a military force out of the gulf of La Spezia because of its peculiar conformation and its strategical position.
The ship-yard boosted the city of La Spezia: immigration of labour and soldiers from all over Italy increased the demographical level: in less than twenty years the number of people living in La Spezia grew from 11.500 to 31.000.
Between the end of the 19th century and the II World War the big factories installed, along with the ship-yard, represent the recent history of La Spezia.
The economy of the city grew considerably in those years, and so did the political and social life.
Due to the geographical position and the military industrial instalments, the second world war hit La Spezia heavily (some ruins caused by bombs can still be found in the historical part of the city).
The whole province of La Spezia witnessed the rising of resistance: the territory bears evidence of all the blood shed and heroic acts.
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