The Borgo is the historic core of Celle Ligure, set just inland from the promenade and climbing gently up the hillside. Narrow lanes — the carruggi typical of Ligurian villages — wind between tall pastel houses, opening onto small piazzas with cafes and the occasional bakery. The architecture is unmistakably Riviera: ochre and pink walls, painted shutters, ardesia slate doorways.
It is small enough to walk through in twenty minutes, but worth lingering in for an aperitivo when the day-trippers have left the beach. The parish church of San Michele Arcangelo and the smaller Oratorio di Nostra Signora della Consolazione are both worth a look. The Borgo also hosts a regular evening passeggiata in summer, when the lanes fill with locals out to see and be seen before dinner.