San Terenzo

Quiet beachside village where Shelley spent his last summer

San Terenzo is a small beachside village about 2 km north of Lerici along the gulf shore, easily reached on foot along the promenade or by boat from the harbour. The beach here is wider than Lerici's and has a more local, less resort-oriented atmosphere. The village has a small castle of its own — the Castel San Terenzo — which can be seen from the waterfront.

The Villa Magni, where Shelley lived his last months, stands just above the beach. The building is privately owned and not open to visitors, but the setting — the terrace overhanging the water, the view across the gulf — makes it easy to understand why Shelley found it intoxicating. A small plaque marks the connection. The walk back to Lerici along the waterfront takes about 25 minutes.

things to do sight neighbourhood
A story
Percy Bysshe Shelley rented the Villa Magni at San Terenzo in the spring of 1822 with Mary Shelley and their friends Edward and Jane Williams. It was the last home he would have. On 8 July 1822, Shelley drowned when his sailing boat Don Juan sank in a storm off Livorno, ten days after he had sailed from this bay. He was 29. When his body washed ashore, it was identified partly by a copy of Keats's poems in his pocket, bent back as if he had been reading it when the storm struck.