Santa Margherita Ligure

Among the more classic tourist resorts there are names that evoke uncontaminated natural landscapes and others that owe their fame to the fascination of their buildings or their particular style of life. Santa Margherita does not belong to either of these categories. Or rather, it offers a pleasant combination of both these apparently conflicting features. Over the centuries man's work has enhanced the original gift of nature. Indeed it has gone further: it has added something unmistakable to an already perfect picture. Santa Margherita's forms, colours, the arrangement of its characteristic houses, its rich villas, its great hotels have painted around its bay something similar to a magical reflection. Here the most varying demands are met, and bustle and calm are only apparently contradictory states. In Santa Margherita the visitor experiences a great sense of freedom and at the same time the pleasant impression of belonging to a privileged and...