Spiaggia di Levanto: The Beach With a Tunnel to a Pirate-Watching Castle

Italy | Liguria | La Spezia | Cinque Terre Coast

Local legend holds that Levanto’s castle, built in 1165 by the Malaspina family to guard against pirate raids, connects to the beach below through an underground tunnel, one passage supposedly running straight to the sand, another cutting through the village all the way to a nearby church. I couldn’t find any archaeological confirmation of either tunnel during my stay, and I’d treat the story as folklore rather than fact, but standing on the beach and looking up at that square stone tower, still watching the bay exactly as it has since the twelfth century, the legend felt like a natural fit for a coastline that spent centuries genuinely worried about who might come ashore.

Levanto sits just north of the Cinque Terre, and where those famous villages squeeze their beaches into narrow, cliffside ledges, Levanto opens into a wide, generous bay that gives visitors actual room to spread out, surf, and breathe.

Clear Water Kept Fresh by Open Sea Exposure

The shoreline here blends dark, volcanic-tinted sand with smooth gray shingle, and the water stays remarkably clear, a benefit of the gulf’s direct exposure to the open sea, which keeps a constant exchange moving through the bay rather than letting it sit still and cloud up. I found the color shifting from emerald near the shore into a deep indigo further out, genuinely inviting even on busier midsummer days. That same open exposure means the water can turn genuinely energetic when the wind and swell cooperate, and I’d flag this clearly for families: the shoreline drops off more quickly than at gentler, enclosed beaches, and big-wave days suit older kids and teenagers chasing a bodyboard far more than toddlers wading at the edge.

Italy’s Reputation as a Surf Capital, Earned Honestly

Levanto has built a genuine name for itself as the Italian Riviera’s premier surfing destination, and I found the reputation entirely earned, watching surfers work consistent swells that simply don’t show up at the more sheltered coves further south. Local rental shops supply boards, paddleboards, and kayaks, and I’d recommend checking conditions before committing to a rental, since the same open exposure that makes this a serious surf spot means calm, glassy days aren’t guaranteed.

Free Public Sections and Organized Beach Clubs Side by Side

The coastline splits cleanly between spiaggia libera, free public sections open to anyone with their own towel, and organized stabilimenti balneari offering sunbeds, umbrellas, and in some cases enclosed saltwater pools. I moved between both over separate visits and found the split worked well, giving visitors a genuine choice depending on the day rather than forcing everyone into a single paid setup. Given how much of the beach remains genuinely unorganized, dogs face no particular restriction on those free stretches beyond Italy’s standard leash requirement outside the water, though the managed beach club sections would likely require the operator’s explicit permission.

Focaccia, Trofie, and a Local Pastry Called Gattafin

Levanto’s promenade is lined with open-air eateries, and I ate well at more than one, focaccia alla genovese and trofie with basil pesto showing up on nearly every menu. Worth seeking out specifically is gattafin, a local specialty unique to Levanto, a stuffed, fried pastry filled with wild herbs, chard, and cheese that I hadn’t encountered anywhere else on this coast. As the sun dropped behind the western promontory, the whole shoreline shifted into proper aperitivo mode, Spritz in hand on a veranda overlooking the bay.

Getting There: A Ten-Minute Walk From the Train Station

Levanto sits directly on the regional railway connecting Genoa, La Spezia, and the Cinque Terre villages, and I found arriving by train genuinely effortless, a flat, scenic ten-minute walk through the historic center leading straight from the station to the sand.

Driving the Carrodano-Levanto Exit From the A12

By car, the A12 motorway’s Carrodano-Levanto exit puts you on a winding but well-maintained descent through olive groves and vineyards into the coastal valley. I found the drive itself worth taking slowly, the terraced hillsides opening steadily toward the sea as the road descends.

Parking Before Nine on Summer Weekends

Paid municipal lots sit directly behind the waterfront promenade, and I found arriving before nine essential on summer weekends, spaces filling quickly enough that a later start meant a considerably longer walk back from wherever parking was left.

Climbing to the Castle That Watches the Bay

Beyond the beach itself, I made the climb up to the Malaspina castle on more than one visit, a short but genuinely steep path leading from the old town to the twelfth-century tower. The castle itself is privately owned and closed to visitors, but the exterior and the surrounding medieval walls remain open, and the view from up there, the full curve of Levanto’s bay spread out below, gave me a considerably better sense of why this coastline was worth defending in the first place.

Watching the Tide Come in Below the Old Watchtower

By the time I packed up on my last evening, the surfers who’d spent the afternoon working the swell were carrying their boards back up the beach, and I sat a while longer watching the light shift over the water, the castle tower above catching the last of the sun, still standing guard over a bay that long ago stopped worrying about pirates and started worrying, instead, about whether tomorrow’s waves would hold.