Lerici, Italy: Castle, Gulf of Poets and Day Trips

A Fortress Town With Etruscan Roots

Lerici has roots reaching back to the Etruscan era, and its position at the southeastern corner of the Gulf of La Spezia made it worth fighting over for centuries. In the Middle Ages the town passed under Genoese control, was briefly sold to Lucca, and was contested between rival city-states before Genoa took it for good in 1479. The reason for the arguments is simple geography: whoever held Lerici held the southern gate into the gulf.

The comune today covers about 15 square kilometres and counts 9,425 residents on the 2023 Wikidata figure, though an older 2017 estimate of roughly 10,205 also circulates in sources. The result for a visitor is a real working town, larger than any of the five villages, with normal shops and services rather than a resort-only economy. For the wider setting of the coast, our Cinque Terre map shows how Lerici sits opposite the UNESCO-listed peninsula.

The Castle and the Seafront

Castello di Lerici was established in 1152 to guard the entrance to the gulf, which makes it nearly seven centuries older than the literary fame that draws many visitors here. For many years the castle housed a paleontology museum, an unusual second life for a medieval military building. The castle sits on the headland above the harbour, so the visit combines a fortress interior with the best views over the water toward Portovenere and the islands.

Opening hours and entry prices for the castle are not stated in the sources checked for this page, so plan to confirm on site. Below it, the town runs along a curved bay with a promenade and a sandy beach, which is a contrast with the rocky swimming spots in the five villages further up the coast. If you are planning the wider region, our day trips from Cinque Terre guide sets Lerici alongside Portovenere and the island of Palmaria.

The Gulf of Poets and San Terenzo

The Gulf of La Spezia is known as the Golfo dei Poeti, the Gulf of Poets, a name tied partly to the writers who lived and visited here. Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley lived in an isolated boathouse called Casa Magni about 5 km north of Lerici near San Terenzo, with their boat anchored at Lerici itself. On 8 July 1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned while sailing back from Livorno, and his body washed ashore near Viareggio, not at Lerici.

Lord Byron also visited the area, and in 1822 reportedly swam across the gulf from Portovenere to Lerici. Later, the Hungarian-British novelist Baroness Emmuska Orczy, author of The Scarlet Pimpernel, kept a villa in the Lerici area during the 1930s. San Terenzo is reachable along the coast road from Lerici, and no official walking time between the two is published in the sources for this pass, so allow time rather than trusting a figure.

The castle and the seafront are a half-day visit. You can climb the fortress, walk the promenade, swim on the beach and eat without ever needing more than a morning or an afternoon. If you have a full day, two additions earn their place.

The first is San Terenzo, which carries the Shelley connection at Casa Magni along the coast. The second is the water. The kayak tour from Lerici to Tellaro and the hidden coves takes 2 hours in its short version and puts you directly under the cliffs that walkers only see from above. Tellaro itself is a fishing hamlet of the comune of Lerici, reached along the coast road or from the sea.

Our suggested routes, based only on the timings and fares published in the sources above:

One honest warning about combining Lerici with the five villages. The ferry from Lerici to Riomaggiore or Manarola runs via Portovenere, so every crossing to the Cinque Terre side adds the gulf traverse first. The one-way fare is US$25.00 (€22) to Riomaggiore or Manarola and US$34.10 (€30) onward to Vernazza, Monterosso or Levanto.

If your priority is the villages, the train from La Spezia is faster, and our getting around Cinque Terre page compares the two. If your priority is a day on the water, the ferry is the better tool and the Cinque Terre ferry page has the season dates.

Lerici gets labelled a quiet suburb of the Cinque Terre. The record says otherwise. These five points come straight from the sourced history and the operator documents, and each one changes how you look at the place.

• The castle predates the Shelleys by nearly 700 years. It was established in 1152 and Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in 1822, so the fortress was already ancient when the poets arrived. [en.wikipedia.org]
• Shelley's body washed ashore near Viareggio, not at Lerici. He drowned at sea on 8 July 1822 sailing back from Livorno, so the town's link to his death is the home he left from, not the shore where he was found. [en.wikipedia.org]
• The Gulf of Poets is a later designation. The name for the Gulf of La Spezia is tied to the literary visitors such as the Shelleys and Byron, and it is not an ancient name for the water. [en.wikipedia.org]
• Byron's famous swim reportedly ran from Portovenere to Lerici, while Portovenere's own version of the story points the other way. Both towns claim a piece of the 1822 crossing. [en.wikipedia.org]
• The castle housed a paleontology museum for many years, an odd pairing of medieval military architecture with fossils, before its present role. [en.wikipedia.org]