Sestri Levante, a charming villlage with a great isthmus joining the promontory to the mainland. The legend has it that a siren named Segesta was kidnapped by his lover Tigullio, the youngest and most beautiful of Tritoni; Neptune, God of the Sea, did not accept that one of his gems could leave his paradise so punished Tigullio by turning his arm into a rock. On Tigullio´s arm, become then the promontory of Sestri Levante, stands the castle of Sestri Levante, whose history dates back to 1089 when the peninsula of Sestri Levante became domain of the Genoa Republic.
The castle was built in 1145 to safeguard the population of Sestri from the attacks and deportations of the pirates and Saracens. Close to the castle there is the church of San Nicoló, built between 1151 and 1190 in order to give religious support to the islanders. To make Sestri even safer two other castles were built, one in 1310 and the other in 1440 named "dell´Aquila".
History then slips away up to the Second World War when the citadel was heavily bombed and razed to the ground.
In 1920 the promontory of Sestri Levante found its owner in the person of the lawyer (and collector as well as financier from Biella) Riccardo Gualino who began the construction of three castles then completed in 1929: the Castle of Cipressi, the largest residence of Gualino, the Castle of Lecci, for his guests and the Castle of Agavi for the servitude.
In 1950 the whole complex became a luxurious hotel keeping the charm of ancient and noble residence.
Sestri Levante, a charming villlage with a great isthmus joining the promontory to the mainland. The legend has it that a siren named Segesta was kidnapped by his lover Tigullio, the youngest and most beautiful of Tritoni; Neptune, God of the Sea, did not accept that one of his gems could leave his paradise so punished Tigullio by turning his arm into a rock. On Tigullio´s arm, become then the promontory of Sestri Levante, stands the castle of Sestri Levante, whose history dates back to 1089 when the peninsula of Sestri Levante became domain of the Genoa Republic.
The castle was built in 1145 to safeguard the population of Sestri from the attacks and deportations of the pirates and Saracens. Close to the castle there is the church of San Nicoló, built between 1151 and 1190 in order to give religious support to the islanders. To make Sestri even safer two other castles were built, one in 1310 and the other in 1440 named "dell´Aquila".
History then slips away up to the Second World War when the citadel was heavily bombed and razed to the ground.
In 1920 the promontory of Sestri Levante found its owner in the person of the lawyer (and collector as well as financier from Biella) Riccardo Gualino who began the construction of three castles then completed in 1929: the Castle of Cipressi, the largest residence of Gualino, the Castle of Lecci, for his guests and the Castle of Agavi for the servitude.
In 1950 the whole complex became a luxurious hotel keeping the charm of ancient and noble residence.
