La Spezia — the Naval Museum, the Market & the Gulf of Poets Gateway
La Spezia (population 94,000, the largest city in the Gulf of La Spezia, the primary gateway to the Cinque Terre by train — all Cinque Terre trains originate at La Spezia Centrale station, 8 minutes south of Riomaggiore) is the practical base for visiting the five villages and holds a significant naval museum, a covered market, and the ferry hub for the Gulf of Poets circuit.
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Museo Tecnico Navale — Italy's Oldest Naval Museum
The Museo Tecnico Navale della Spezia (Viale Amendola 1, the Italian Navy base, free entry for EU citizens, Wednesday-Sunday 8:30am-7pm, the oldest naval museum in Italy, established 1922, the collection spanning 700 years of Italian naval history from the Venetian and Genoese galleys to the World War II submarine fleet) contains the galliot lantern from the Venetian flagship at the Battle of Lepanto (1571), the figurehead collection (80 carved wooden figureheads from 17th-20th century warships), and the Audace torpedo boat (the first Italian vessel to enter Trieste in November 1918, the defining object of Italian naval history). The museum's figurehead gallery and the Mignatta manned torpedo (the two-man submersible that sank the Austrian battleship Viribus Unitis in the harbour of Pola in 1918) are the collection's peaks.
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Mercato Centrale La Spezia — the Best Food Market in Liguria
The Mercato Centrale di La Spezia (Piazza Cavour, the covered market open Monday-Saturday 7am-2pm, the largest and best-stocked food market between Genoa and Pisa, the indispensable provisioning stop for Cinque Terre self-catering accommodation) sells: the freshest anchovies from the Cinque Terre fishing boats (the catch landed at La Spezia's fish market at 5am and in the covered market by 7am), the Ligurian pesto (made fresh daily, the Genovese basil DOP basil visible in bundles on the herb stalls), the local farinata (the thin chickpea-flour pancake baked in a wood-fired copper pan, the most ancient Ligurian street food, sold hot from bakeries around the market at €2-3/portion) and the focaccia di Recco (the ultra-thin flatbread filled with Ligurian stracchino cheese, the definitive Ligurian bread, sold by weight at €4-6/100g).
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Lerici — the Shelley Village on the Eastern Shore
Lerici (the medieval coastal town on the eastern shore of the Gulf of La Spezia, 12km by bus or 30 minutes by ferry from La Spezia, population 10,000) is where Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley lived at Casa Magni in 1822 — Shelley drowned in a storm while sailing back from Livorno on July 8, 1822, aged 29, his body recovered 10 days later. The Lerici Castle (12th-century, the Museo del Mare inside, €6 adults, Tuesday-Sunday 10am-7pm, the best view of the Gulf of Poets from the castle terrace) and the Shelley House (the Casa Magni in San Terenzo, a 10-minute walk north of Lerici centre, not open to visitors but marked with a commemorative plaque) are the literary pilgrimage sites.
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Pesto Genovese — the Ligurian Sauce from the Basil Fields
Pesto Genovese DOP (the Ligurian basil sauce, protected under European law since 2005, the authentic preparation requiring Genovese basil DOP — the small-leaved variety grown exclusively in the province of Genoa, with a lighter, sweeter flavour than the larger-leaved basil grown elsewhere — plus Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, Pecorino Sardo DOP, pine nuts, garlic, and coarse sea salt, ground in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle to prevent oxidation, never blended) is available fresh in markets and pesto shops throughout the Cinque Terre and La Spezia. The Pesto World Championship (the Campionato Mondiale di Pesto al Mortaio, held at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa every 2 years, the amateur competition attracting 100 competitors using the traditional mortar method) is the benchmark event.
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Farinata — the Chickpea Pancake of Liguria
Farinata (the thin chickpea-flour pancake (chickpea flour, water, olive oil, salt, baked in a copper pan at 300 degrees Celsius in a wood-fired oven for 8-10 minutes, the result crispy-edged and soft-centred with a slightly smoky flavour), the oldest street food in Liguria — documented in Genoa since the 13th century and attributed by legend to a Genoese galley surviving a storm by eating the chickpea paste that washed over the ship's provisions) is sold at the fainaie (dedicated farinata bakeries, open only from 11am when the first batch comes out) throughout La Spezia and the Cinque Terre. The Antica Pizzeria La Farinata (Via del Prione 185, La Spezia, open 11am-7pm daily except Tuesday) is the most highly regarded farinata shop in the city.
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Gulf of La Spezia Ferry — the Full Gulf Circuit
The Gulf of La Spezia ferry circuit (the passenger ferry service operated by Navigazione del Golfo, running April-October between La Spezia, Lerici, Tellaro, Portovenere, and the 5 Cinque Terre villages, the day-pass at €35-45 allowing unlimited journeys on the circuit in one direction, the boat the most scenic form of transport for the full circuit) provides the only sea-level perspective on the coast — the vertical limestone cliffs visible from the water, the 5 villages appearing from the sea as their medieval architects intended, the scale of the terraced hillsides comprehensible only from a boat. The Navigazione Golfo dei Poeti ferry (the Portovenere–Palmaria–Lerici triangle service, €3-5 per crossing, the smallest boat in the fleet) connects the three most historically significant sites in the Gulf of Poets.