The hidden history of the Riviera di Levante

The Riviera di Levante, with its historic cities and picturesque villages, hides centuries of fascinating history that have helped define the identity of this region. Among the most interesting events is the history of Genoa, nicknamed "La Superba", which until the 1970s was one of the most important industrial centers in northern Italy, along with Milan and Turin.

A particularly important chapter in the history of this coast concerns Camogli, once a powerful maritime center and now a quiet tourist resort. Between the late 18th and 19th centuries, Camogli experienced its heyday with one of the largest commercial and military fleets in the Mediterranean. At its peak, as many as 700 ships sailed under the flag of Camogli. It was here, in 1853, that Erasmo Schiaffino and Giuseppe de Gregori founded the world's first maritime insurance company, whose innovative policies would become a model for the future.

The history of the region is also closely linked to silk production, especially in the Zoagli area. This art came to Genoa from the East in the 13th century, and in the 16th century the city became one of the most important centers of silk production in Europe. In the 19th century there were about 1,000 silk looms in Zoagli. However, this number was drastically reduced to only 40 in the 1940s, mainly due to foreign competition and a disease that affected the silkworms.

Rapallo, on the other hand, was the scene of important Italian-Yugoslav meetings in 1920, and in 1922 the famous Treaty of Rapallo was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, which regulated issues of reparations and economic cooperation. At that time, Rapallo was a famous international seaside resort, frequented by personalities such as Nietzsche, Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Gerhart Hauptmann and William Butler Yeats.

The province is also marked by dramatic moments. During the Second World War, many towns were heavily bombed. Zoagli, for example, saw much of its historic center destroyed, while Chiavari still bears the scars of that period. However, these towns have shown a remarkable ability to rebirth, rebuild and reinvent themselves after the war.

A particular chapter in the local history concerns the mining of slate in the Fontanabuona valley. Since the twelfth century, women have been extracting and laboriously transporting this material, carrying the heavy slabs on their heads along rough paths to the valleys below. Slate, also called "schist" because it was shipped from the port of Lavagna, was used throughout the coast for churches, houses, roads and walls, becoming a characteristic element of local architecture.
Today, while some of these traditional activities have disappeared or been transformed, others continue to survive, adapted to modern times.

Liguria keeps its rich historical heritage alive through museums, monuments and traditions that continue to tell the story of these unique places in Italy.