Tourism and restaurants in Rapallo

A successful partnership began 120 years ago

Rapallo with its fabulous area overlooking the sea, its mild climate all year round and good food, for over a century means tourism, resulting culture of hospitality and catering.

In the early years in the ‘900, before the upheavals data from the Wars, was the usual goal of educated writers and British artists such as Ezra Pound, who lived in Rapallo from ’24 to ’45 and created “Villa Chiara”, in which he took care several prominent figures of the time as the ultimate dandy, Max Beerbohm, known for his walks in the Tigullio with linen dress, handkerchief in the breast pocket, wool on the head and stick with ivory knob twirling in the air. And then historical figures such as Helen of Savoy, but also entertainment and art as Pirandello and Eleonora Duse stayed in the territory of Rapallo at the famous Imperial Palace Hotel, built in 1895 and then expanded to what it is today in 1910.

History and Tourism are founded in the early 1900s

From America, the bourgeois overseas with massive cruise ships of the golden age of ocean liners or private boats, arrived on the coasts of Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino.

Migration and tourism that affected the first half of 1900 and became even more significant after the Second World War.

At the turn of 1800 and 1900, also the Art Nouveau architecture and neoclassical painted the territory and led to a further increase of the tourist flow, that with the construction of the railway station in 1868 was a further way open to the world.

History International also passes from Rapallo in 1917, as the seat of the inter conference that laid the groundwork for the conclusion of the First World War.

In 1920 it was here that the treaty was established between Italy and Yugoslavia in 1922 and the one between Russia and Germany, when, at the Economic Conference of Genoa, the German Foreign Minister Walther von Rathenau and the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Soviet Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin signed the Treaty of Rapallo (at the Villa Spinola today known as Villa of the Treaty), which defined the separate peace between Russia and Germany and the end, even at the diplomatic level, the First World War.

Headquarters of these important agreements, in addition to the aforementioned Villa Spinola located in the hamlet of San Michele di Pagana, were the prestigious Hotel Excelsior and Imperial (then falling in the town of Rapallo and later absorbed into that of Santa Margherita Ligure) still shine and flagship of the tourist territory rapallese internationally, along with other prestigious 5 star luxury present from Rapallo to Portofino.

40s and ’50s: the Golden Age

The bridge between then and now is still the same, take a break from the routine, a new experience and enjoy nature of the Italian territory and Liguria in particular.

The foreign tourist hoped to joy for the eyes and soul to the dream that gave the transoceanic passage.

Luxury Hotels that take possession of the tourist of the 40s and to this day, to let him live an unprecedented experience.

Numerous travelers of the 60s fell in love with the “Made in Italy”, the proximity of writers, poets and musicians, intrigued by the show that took place on board and the immense libraries.

Throughout the twentieth century, Rapallo well as tourists, received important names in literature and art as foreign Kandinsky, Nolde and Kokoschka; writers and intellectuals such as Yeats, Hemingway and Ezra Pound, and also Jan Sibelius, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hermann Hesse, Sigmund Freud.

Next to these characters there was a flurry of musicians, writers and poets who crowded lounges Genoese ’50s and’ 60s like Alberto Pescetto and Desmond Chute.

A journey that began from the time to remove the anchor, and then get to its peak once moored in Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure, Portofino or Genoa.

E ‘in this period that the flow of tourists doubled during the spring and in the summer, with the advent of second homes by the sea, especially the residents of the Milan area.

Because of the housing boom, the coast lost a little of that charm and elegance given by the elite who would spend days relaxing, but still keeps, thanks to the beauty of its natural territory and the different historical Hotel starred, who donate to always that historical flavor and exclusive in Rapallo.

Luxury hotels, clubs, cafes and restaurants that animate the Rapallo sea and which since 1930 has added the prestigious Rapallo Golf Club with 18 holes.

Restaurants in Rapallo

A great merit of this success that endures over time, in addition to the climate and the beauty of the land, it has always had good food.

In this sense, the protagonist is the Ligurian cuisine, both land and sea, characterized by simple dishes, but tasty and unique taste and unforgettable.

Dishes like Pansotti Rapallo in walnut sauce, the different types of pasta with pesto, the fresh fish cooked in ligurian style, focaccia and, more recently, in its variant with the cheese, it can be said that they have crossed the centuries to arrive unchanged to the present day, conquering the palate of thousands of travelers from all over the world and in every age.

By successful writers, artists and intellectuals, passing by the most powerful of the Earth, no one has been able to escape the pleasure of this kitchen, always delicate and balanced, never heavy or excessive, which whisks you away forever from the first tasting.

Tourism and restaurants in Rapallo: Via Fratelli Cairoli towards the Porta delle Saline with the shrine in the Historical Village of Rapallo. Featured Hostaria Vecchia Rapallo as it was in the 90s.

Tourism and restaurants in Rapallo: Via Fratelli Cairoli view from Porta delle Saline in the Historical Village of Rapallo. On the left you can see the sign Hostaria Vecchia Rapallo as it was in the 90s.

Rapallo today

Rapallo is still popular with tourists British, German, French, Russian and Japanese, internationalization has always been and continues to be the main pillar of tourism on this stretch of the Riviera.

And the heart of many of these tourists is enclosed in Hostaria Vecchia Rapallo, which over 20 years is a reference point of food and wine of the Ligurian cuisine and excellence and at the same time tourist attraction, helping to give one more reason to visit in this small town.

Hostaria to resume and renew the centuries-old tradition of Italian and Ligurian Osterie (similar to French bistros) and Old Rapallo as in the heart of the old town of this beautiful pearl of the Italian Riviera, whose appeal continues to be very strong in time and despite all the changes that have occurred here and in the World .

Rapallo is so, bring a bit ‘of your home here and bring a bit’ of her elsewhere, as a baggage that no longer lets you down and makes you think that anywhere you go Rapallo will remain in your heart.

Ernest Hemingway, who stayed here for a long time in 1923 with his wife Hadley, remaining he gained from its territory and its cuisine (he wrote the story right here: “Cat in the Rain”), in his most famous book – The Old Man and the Sea – expresses this concept very well: “The old man opened his eyes and for a moment he was coming back from a long way away. Then he smiled“.