Spending an Italian Vacation in Rapallo

Rapallo has become a resort town in the Province of Genoa in Italy. You will find many hotels and restaurants crowding the bay to the south of the town. When the rainy season recedes, many tourists visit this section of the Italian Riviera each spring. This was a backwater area and many people came for the extra ordinary beauty of the bay here. This was one of the favorite spots of Ezra Pound. He wrote most of his Cantos here in the nineteen thirties. Pound always found rest here in his hectic career. He eventually settled down in the close by village of St. Ambrogio. Rapallo also featured in the regular vacations for D.H. Lawrence and Ernest Hemingway. This resort is well known for its large marina and its castle which is now open for exhibition. The landscape here is magnificent and the Mediterranean offers splendid vistas. This is almost a postcard town. It is a seaside resort where you can relax and forget the bustle of heavily crowded places. The town is on the Gulf of Tigullio with pines rising from the hills that are behind the town. You get a great view from the beautiful Sanctuary of Our Lady of Montallegro which is at a height of over six hundred meters in the hills. The main street in Rapallo is an esplanade between the shore and the hotels. Fishermen are always busy at the rocks that are below the walkway. If you stay in any hotel, you can view the whole bay. You will find a statue of Cristoforo Colombo with the palm trees surrounding it. There is a long white pier that juts into the bay. There will be ferries going in and out of that bay. Below your hotel balcony, you can hear the waves smash against the stone walls of a castle that was built in the sixteenth century to safeguard the town from the attacks of the pirates. This castle is lit by orange floodlights in the night and it looks great against the dark sky. There are several pizzerias for you to dine in. You can select from many restaurants along the esplanade. There are people frequenting these restaurants till quite late in the night. The Farmer’s Market is held on most weekdays and you will see quite a range of fresh fruits and vegetables. Its Historical Center has been renovated. The well known hotels are Lido, Excelsior Palace, La Villa Manuelina, Rosa Bianca and Framon Grand Hotel Bristol. You can also rent a villa for about five hundred dollars a week. The nearest connection place is Genoa. Rapallo is connected by many trains from Genoa. You can reach Rapallo by train, car or boats. If you reach Rapallo by a boat, you will be able to see the breathtaking waterfront. You can take a boat trip to Portofino. During summer, Rapallo becomes a very important summer vacation town on the Ligurian Riviera. During winter, Rapallo tends to become very windy.