DAY 1
L, D included
After meeting in the late morning at Nice airport, we drive a short distance to visit our first gardens and the collections of the celebrated Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, magnificently sited on Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Continuing by road east to Bordighera (1 hour), we stay for the next four nights in an elegant Edwardian villa hotel, with a small swimming pool, set in gardens high above the sea. A glass of dry Vermentino, a typical wine of the coast, introduces our first dinner of Ligurian specialities.
DAY 2
B, L, D included
The coastal autostrada whisks us west, close to the French border, for a morning visit to one of the most celebrated gardens on the Riviera, the Hanbury gardens. Begun in 1867 by Sir Thomas Hanbury and his botanist brother Daniel, the gardens are dramatically sited on a promontory sloping gently down to the sea and contain many rare plants. We drive up into the Ligurian hills for a light tasting lunch – wines such as Pigato and Rossese and typical Ligurian dishes: Taggiasca olives, pasta with pesto (pesto is the archetypal Genovese sauce), focaccia and shrimps with garlic and pine nuts - explore the mediaeval village of Dolceacqua on foot, then plan to visit the private gardens of the Villa Piacenza Boccanegra. Originally dedicated to the cultivation of roses, the garden was later planted with exotic species from all over the world by the English heiress and botanist Ellen Willmott.
DAY 3
B, L, D included
We admire an amazing collection of cacti and succulents in the renowned private botanical gardens established by 4 generations of the Pallanca family before a private visit to the gardens where Monet painted a number of pictures in 1884 and to the extraordinary, completely untouched, atelier of Italy’s most famous Impressionist painter, Pompeo Mariani. After a trattoria lunch in the mediaeval town centre, we follow paths down from the ancient Principality of Seborga (2.5 hours), returning to Bordighera via the old aquaduct and the palmeraie from where the Vatican is supplied with fronds for Palm Sunday. We have time to relax back at our hotel before dinner in an excellent Slow Food restaurant.
DAY 4
B, L, D included
High in the hills we follow a circular trail (2.5 hours) starting from a 15C chapel, through oak and ancient olive groves and over 2 mediaeval stone bridges, before descending to Dolcedo for lunch in a typical trattoria. Returning towards Bordighera, we have a private appointment to visit the Villa Garnier, overlooking the sea and former home of one of France’s most famous architects.
DAY 5
B, L, D included
After a leisurely breakfast in the conservatory we set off for San Remo and visit the onion-domed Russian church built by Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna in 1874 (the Russian colony in San Remo included Tchaikovsky, who composed ‘Eugene Onegin’ here). We walk along the palm tree-lined promenade and visit the Villa Nobel, Alfred Nobel’s home for many years and now an interesting museum about the Nobel Prize Foundation. Reaching Genoa, described by Petrarch as ‘a regal city leaning up against an Alpine hill’, we enter the ancient Porta Vacca on foot and begin our exploration of the mediaeval streets. After lunch we walk to the superb Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral of San Lorenzo (consecrated in 1118) and the Doge’s apartments in the Palazzo Ducale, then on to our 4 star hotel in the historic centre.
DAY 6
B, L, D included
We stroll along the Via Garibaldi, one of the most handsome streets in Europe, lined with 16C patrician palaces. We see the collections of the Palazzo Bianco, with particularly fine Flemish and Dutch paintings by Van Dyck and Rubens, as well as works by Filippino Lippi, Veronese and Caravaggio. After coffee in an historic café we visit the Palazzo Tursi to see the Guarneri violin which belonged to Genoa-born Paganini. In the afternoon we visit the dock area, recently renovated by the architect Renzo Piano, to see the collections of the new Museum of the Sea, including 3 letters written by Christopher Columbus, Genoa’s most famous son.
DAY 7
B, L, D included
A visit to the 'Mercato Orientale' gives us an opportunity to admire, or buy, the products that justly make this coast famous – pesto, herbs and local cheeses. We continue by vehicle to the 16C Palazzo del Principe, established by Admiral Doria and still in the hands of the Doria family 500 years later. Recently restored, with frescoes, tapestries, precious maps and portraits, the palazzo conveys the once sumptuous interior described by a 16C Duke of Mantua as having 'furnishings more suited to a great king … than to a nobleman'. Our explorations continue on foot along the Via Balbi to the Palazzo Reale, residence of the Savoy royal family from 1823. After lunch we explore the architectural monuments of the Piazza San Matteo, created in the 12C, with characteristic striped black and white facades. We see the church of San Matteo, founded in 1125 and decorated with frescoes and stuccoes in the 16C when it became the family church of the Dorias, then return to our hotel for some free time before our farewell dinner in one of the city’s most innovative restaurants.
DAY 8
B included
A free morning to pursue individual interest – perhaps visiting the unusual Museum of Antarctic Exploration or the excellent Museum of Oriental Art – before a short airport transfer (Genoa airport) concludes the holiday.
