La Spezia is embedded in the heart of the Gulf of Poets, a definition evoking landscapes of touching beauty between tiny coves and vertical cliffs. The chief town of the eastern Ligurian province lies in the innermost point of the bay– a barycentric (and sheltered) position that has fostered the development of La Spezia throughout the centuries. Nowadays, this strategic location is appreciated by connoisseur travellers willing to explore the enchantment of the area zigzagging from the coast to the entroterra. The Cinque Terre, Portovenere, Lerici, Fiascherino, Tellaro, Montemarcello, Sarzana, the mouth of the Magra and the greenery of the Val di Vara, in fact, crown an unexpected, wealthy town, surprising visitors with the dynamism of its cultural identity.

Liguria meets Tuscany in this border province, land of exchanges and commerce since the night of times. Tradition, history and economy tell the tale of the changing fortunes of potentates and towns: mysterious Luni, the ancient fluvial Roman port and first seat of the Bishopric; Sarzana, the lively epicentre of trades with Lunigiana; Portovenere, the tactical pawn in the chess game between genoa and Pisa in the age of the Maritime republics.
Up to the 14th century La Spezia ranked as a minor centre, which – nevertheless - had already whetted Genoese appetites (in the 13th century the Superba had taken appropriate measures to crush the Fieschi’s ambitions over the area). Once it entered the capital’s sphere of action, La Spezia started modelling its own economical and political personality (in 1343 the podesteria of La Spezia was established). The following centuries saw the flowering of the mercantile vocation of local economy and – in the 17th century - the development of the city as a military stronghold protecting Genoa’s interests. At the beginning of the 19th century the French recognized the strategic potential of the port, but it was only with the Unity of Italy – under the mandate of Prime Minister Cavour – that La Spezia won its primacy as military port and seat of the Arsenal, a new identity that shaped (in more way than one) the growth of the 19th century town as well as that of the mercantile port.
Unfortunately, the heavy bombing of WW II destroyed to a certain extent the memories of the past: nevertheless, attentive visitors can still interpret the urban and architectonic layout as a jigsaw puzzle of ages and styles. La Spezia offers a stimulating alternation of antiquity and modernity: careful restoration works having saved old buildings from decay, the city now boasts a number of new cultural centres.
Culture has in fact been identified as the guideline of development. The landmark of the town’s contemporary identity shows in a multitude of exhibitions, events and – above all - active museums, providing the most effective interpretation key as regards the history, habitats and art (not to forget the local taste for collecting and Maecenatism) of the place.
You are strongly recommended to start your tour from the Museo Civico Archeologico “Ubaldo Formentini”, hosted by the imposing Castello di San Giorgio. This Medieval castle represents one of the symbols of urban history: recently restored, it stands in the area of the primitive city settlement, the Poggio. The rooms of the museum house archaeological finds coming from important private collections. Do not misses include the stele statues from Lunigiana (Bronze Age and Iron Age), so modern in their essentiality, and fall under the spell of their detached aristocratic glance; and the wealth materials found in Luni, both Roman (marbles, statues, floor mosaics, ceramics and objects of daily use) and early- medieval (this being the time of Luni’s decline and Sarzana’s progressive rise).