Spiaggia di Arenella: The Beach Facing a Tower That Survived Two Empires

Italy | Liguria | La Spezia | Gulf of Poets

Directly across the channel from Spiaggia di Arenella, rising from a rocky outcrop off Palmaria’s northeastern tip, stands Torre Scola, built by the Republic of Genoa in 1606 to defend this stretch of coast. On January 23, 1800, the tower found itself at the center of an actual naval engagement between British and French fleets during the Napoleonic Wars, British gunfire damaging it badly enough that it fell into disrepair for much of the following century. By 1915, the military planned to demolish it entirely for target practice, and it survived only because a local Ministry of Education official named Ubaldo Mazzini intervened to save it, eventually converting the old fortress into a working lighthouse. I found myself watching that tower for a genuinely long time during my visit, a structure that’s outlasted the Republic that built it, an empire that damaged it, and a government that once wanted it gone.

Arenella sits just a few hundred meters north of Portovenere’s ferry terminal, a short, flat walk along the seaside promenade from the historic village center, and it holds the distinction of being one of the more fully equipped beaches in a town where most swimming spots are famously rock and boulder rather than anything resembling sand.

Smooth Grey Pebbles Facing an Ancient Channel

The shore here blends small, polished stones with coarse shingle that gives way to a soft, sandy seabed once you’re in the water, and I found the transition genuinely comfortable compared to the sharper pebbles I’d encountered at some of the more exposed coves nearby. A low stone wall separates the lido from the sea, and the water itself, protected within the Regional Natural Park of Portovenere, held remarkable clarity throughout my visit, pale aquamarine near the shore deepening into emerald and cobalt further into the channel. Visibility stayed sharp enough that I could see my own shadow on the sandy floor even wading chest-deep, and the calm, low-current conditions kept swimming genuinely relaxed rather than a fight against the tide.

A Beach Built for a Full, Organized Day

Arenella runs as one of the few properly equipped lidos in Portovenere, sunbeds and umbrellas arranged in matching rows, changing cabins and clean restrooms covering the practical basics, lifeguards on duty throughout the season. I found the setup suited a genuinely relaxed, full day out, coffee and light meals available without needing to walk back into the village center. Given how organized this particular beach is, I’d expect dogs to need explicit permission here, consistent with managed Italian lidos generally.

Diving Toward the Marine Reserve’s Deeper Waters

The Protected Marine Area extending from Portovenere out to Palmaria, Tino, and Tinetto includes several serious dive sites, Byron’s Grotto closest to the village itself, along with deeper reef formations further out that host gorgonian coral in yellow, red, white, and orange. I didn’t dive myself during this visit, but watching boats head out from the nearby harbor toward those same sites gave me a clear sense of how seriously this stretch of coast gets treated by the diving community, considerably more than its calm, family-friendly surface at Arenella suggests.

Getting There and Settling In

Arenella sits a flat, scenic ten-minute walk north of Portovenere’s center along the Passeggiata Aldo Moro and Via Olivo, easily reached on foot by anyone already staying in or visiting the village; ATC public bus Line 11/P runs from La Spezia’s central station along the panoramic coastal road, stopping directly along Via Olivo a short walk from the beach, and drivers taking the scenic SP530 from La Spezia should expect genuinely limited parking, blue-striped paid spaces along Via Olivo filling quickly enough that an early arrival is worth planning around during peak summer. Anyone splitting a day between Portovenere’s beaches will find Spiaggia Portovenere Libera and Spiaggia dell’Olivo Le Grazie both within easy walking distance, each offering its own distinct texture of this same small, history-dense stretch of coast.

Watching the Tower Hold Its Light Into Evening

By the time I packed up on my last evening at Arenella, Torre Scola’s lighthouse beam had begun cutting across the darkening channel, the same structure that once drew cannon fire now simply marking safe passage for boats returning to harbor, its long, difficult history reduced now to nothing more dramatic than a steady, reassuring pulse of light across the water.