At a snail's pace through the cascades of flowers: a day in Borgio Verezzi, Part I

That Liguria is perhaps the most colourful region in Italy, thanks to its orange, yellow and pink houses, capable of reflecting and even amplifying the faintest ray of sunlight, is well known. But you only need to go to Borgio Verezzi to discover that this same feature of the splendid region also shows itself underground: in fact, the caves of Borgio Verezzi, discovered in 1933, the year in which Borgio and Verezzi were merged into a single municipality, are the most colourful tourist caves in Italy. This spectacular phenomenon is due to the presence of various minerals that reflect the soft light, giving visitors a kaleidoscope of whites, yellows and reds in a thousand different shades.

Our visit to Borgio Verezzi begins right at the caves, along the tourist route of about eight hundred metres, during which we admire enormous stalactites with the most curious shapes, soda straws, incredibly thin draperies, and even lakes formed by the waters of some surface stream, including the Rio Battorezza, swallowed up by the cavities. Although the caves had never been inhabited by humans, among their concretions various bone remains of animal origin dating back between 500,000 and 750,000 years ago have been found, and these are certainly not the bones of some unfortunate cat or rabbit: they are instead the remains of rhinoceroses, elephants, tigers, crocodiles, macaques, bears and even mammoths, animals that at that time roamed undisturbed under the Ligurian sun...

Since a great deal of time has passed since then, we continue our walk without fear of meeting any wild beast, and so we reach the beautiful parish church of San Pietro, built on the remains of the ancient castle of the Burgum Albinganeum in 1789. Even from the floor of the church it is possible to access a cave, with a lake at its bottom. In Borgio we also visit the sanctuary of the Madonna del Buon Consiglio. Verezzi is part of the circuit of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, confirmed also by the view over the gulf which, curve after curve, widens within a frame of oleanders and bougainvillea, as far as the village of Verezzi, which has kept its medieval features intact. In this magical place, and in particular in Piazza Sant'Agostino, the Borgio Verezzi Theatre Festival has been held every year in July and August since 1967.

In 2016 the prestigious event reaches its fiftieth edition. In Verezzi we also visit the church of San Martino and the sanctuary of Maria Regina Mundi: the two religious buildings stand on the heights, and nearby one can also admire a curious Phoenician mill. Returning to the village, we venture into its characteristic alleyways of fairy-tale beauty, where every corner corresponds to a cascade of flowers and every step reveals a new view to photograph. We thus cross the square of the theatre festival and, while admiring the breathtaking view that stands out over the sea between the arches, we set off along a picturesque creuza leading towards an area of terraced crops. After about a minute of an easy walk we reach our destination, the Agriturismo Ca' du Gregorio.

We chose to stop here for dinner because we felt like tasting genuine Ligurian cuisine in an equally authentic setting: we could not have found a better place than this. We have always seen the Ligurian terraces from a distance, driving past on the motorway, but this is the first time we find ourselves inside these typical fasce, divided by rows of dry-stone walls often dating back centuries and built by the women of the village while the men went to sea.