Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

Genoa’s mainly residential suburbs extend easterly to NERVI (accessible by local train or bus #15 from Piazza Cavour), a neat resort spread around a small harbour with a handful of bars along the seafront. Much of the centre of Nervi is given over to exotic flowers and plants: travel left out of the train station brings you into the Parco di Villa Gropallo , with, alongside, the Parco di Villa Serra , which hosts an open-air cinema during August (information from the Genoa tourist office). The park slopes down to a romantic seafront promenade with a few bars and fish restaurants, while joining it to the easterly are the lavish rose-gardens of the Parco di Villa Grimaldi . Following the lovely promenade easterly around the cliffs of the Sant’Ilario headland brings you to the Museo Civile G. Luxoro , holding a small collection of furniture, textiles and clocks (Tues-Sat 9am-1pm; L6000/¬3.10). Semi-suburban though Nervi is, it still feels a long way from city life among the orange trees and the dreamy villa gardens.

Tags: clocks, exotic flowers, fish restaurants, furniture textiles, genoa, handful, headland, local train, open air cinema, orange trees, parco, piazza cavour, promenade east, residential suburbs, rose gardens, seafront promenade, tourist office, train station, villa gardens, villa serra