Chiavari is the main town of the Tigullio Gulf, a handsome and prosperous city of around 28,000 people squeezed between the mountains and the sea on the eastern Ligurian Riviera. It lacks the celebrity of nearby Portofino or Cinque Terre, which is much of its appeal: this is a real Ligurian town, one where people actually live and work, with an excellent beach, a fine historic centre, and a famous antiques market.
The old town is laid out along the Caruggio Dritto, a long, colonnaded street lined with arcaded palaces that gives Chiavari the nickname "città dei portici" — the city of arcades. The palaces are mostly seventeenth- and eighteenth-century, built when Chiavari was a prosperous maritime trading town. The antiques market, held on the second weekend of each month, draws dealers from across northern Italy and is one of the best in the region.
Chiavari has an unexpected connection to the Risorgimento: the local museum is devoted to Garibaldi and Mazzini, both of whom had ties to the area. The town is also the origin of the Chiavarina chair, the distinctive straw-seated ladderback chair that became an Italian design classic in the nineteenth century and is still made here.
The beach is long and clean, backed by the tree-lined Lungomare. From the waterfront you can look across the bay toward Sestri Levante to the east and the Portofino headland to the west.