Vara Valley
©
Vara Valley

Vara Valley

Rural Ligurian valley of medieval villages, chestnut forests, and organic farms behind the Riviera crowds.

The Vara Valley runs through the eastern end of Liguria, parallel to the motorway, connecting the coast near La Spezia with the Apennine passes. It is a quiet, rural area of medieval villages, chestnut forests, and organic farms — a world away from the crowds on the Riviera.

Bolano, at the mouth of the valley, sits on a hill overlooking the confluence with the Magra valley, mentioned in documents as far back as 963. Further up, Brugnato has an 11th-century cathedral, the Santi Pietro, Lorenzo e Colombano, built on the site of a Benedictine abbey thought to have been founded by Saint Columban. At the head of the valley, Varese Ligure is a charming farming town with a medieval round castle and a strong tradition of organic agriculture — the area has become a leader in Liguria for biologically grown produce.

The valley is excellent walking and cycling country. Try the focaccia with raisins from the bakery shops, and in the restaurants ask for the local vegetable dishes, mushrooms in season, and the house wine — the reds from Bolano and the whites from the area are honest and cheap.

Guide

Eating Out

The Vara Valley is one of the most rewarding areas of Liguria for a serious eater. The cooking is rustic rather than refined: chestnut-flour pastas like picagge and testaroli (the latter cooked on cast-iron discs, testi), porcini in season, wild boar stews, sheep's-milk cheeses from the small organic farms above Varese Ligure, and the local focaccia con uvetta — a sweet raisin focaccia served as a snack or breakfast. Drink the rough local reds from Bolano and the white bianchetto genovese.

Restaurants worth looking out for include the trattorias in Varese Ligure around the round borough and the agriturismi scattered along the side roads, where the meat and vegetables on your plate come from the farm you parked in.

Guide

Things to Do

The Vara Valley is for slow travel — small medieval villages, walks through chestnut and beech forest, an 11th-century cathedral at Brugnato, and a round-shaped castle town at the head of the valley. Most visitors arrive by car from La Spezia and string together two or three villages with a long lunch in between. The valley pairs naturally with the Cinque Terre coast, which it sits just behind.