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The island of Palmaria is famous because once you land you can turn round and ... see Porto Venere well! Thus you enjoy one of the best panoramas in the world, but this is not its only merit: the island is a nature reserve, crossed by a network of paths that represent as many tourist itineraries. It has mostly remained intact, it is a park with some total reserve zones and others that are more agricultural and can also be “exploited” for tourism, but always rigorously without hotels.

Climbing to the peak of the island the landscape is priceless: on one side all Liguria can be seen, from the other the view goes from Versilia to Maremma. Right at the top there is the environmental education centre, an old military battery abandoned in the 60s and today turned into a centre/hostel to give hospitality to groups for ecological purposes. So amid nature you have a pretext for a nice trip.

"Gourmets by chance" on Palmaria

Syusy, a tourist for food between Palmaria and Porto Venere, leads us in the discovery of the products and flavours of the Cinque National Park Terre. In her gastronomic tour she has many meetings, each of which ... is sealed by a taste! The pièce de résistance of the area is sea bass ravioli with Palmaria mussel sauce, but there is also spaghetti “alla Giuseppe”, red pepper puree with prawns, anchovy pie, grated squids ... It is difficult to choose! The quality begins from the ingredients, products of the territory: rosemary, potatoes, basil ...

In her greedy peregrination Syusy gets to know a very great expert on pesto, a lady that has prepared it and sold it fresh every day for 49 years! In her shop you can also taste other local specialities beginning from panettone (Italian Christmas cake)! Yes, Christmas cake, but here in Liguria people eat it all year round: the true Genoese panettone made with raisins, pine kernels, butter, crushed oil, sugar and flour, but without candied fruits.

Syusy’s trip ends with the last taste at the Antica Osteria Carugio: a fuming dish of Mescciüa! It is a soup of spelt, beans and chickpeas, to be eaten with a dash of oil and a sprinkling of pepper ...