Alta Via di Bordighera – Old Town (Borgo)
Perched on a promontory 150 metres above the Ligurian coast, Bordighera's medieval Borgo is a labyrinth of vaulted caruggi, bougainvillea-draped archways and sun-bleached ochre houses that look unchanged since the 13th century. Strolling here at golden hour, with the sea glittering on three sides, is the single most atmospheric thing you can do in town.
Through the Porta Sottana
Enter through the Porta Sottana, the original sea-gate, and follow Via Vittorio Emanuele as it narrows into a tunnel of stone arches. Every side alley reveals a shrine, a cat asleep on warm cobblestones or a sudden flash of turquoise sea between rooftops.
The Piazzetta del Popolo at the heart of the Borgo is tiny but perfectly formed — a handful of tables outside Bar Bordilandia, a medieval well and the kind of quiet that feels genuinely earned after the bustle of the seafront promenade below.
The English Cemetery & Via Romana
Just outside the Borgo walls, the small Protestant Cemetery holds the grave of author Giovanni Ruffini, whose 1855 novel 'Doctor Antonio' turned Bordighera into a Victorian tourist sensation and drew Claude Monet to paint here in 1884.
Via Romana, running east from the old gate, is lined with 19th-century villas built for the British and Russian aristocracy who wintered here. The Art Nouveau details on the ironwork gates alone are worth a slow walk.
Best Time to Visit
Come in the late afternoon when day-trippers have left and the light turns the stone walls gold. The Borgo is tiny — you can walk every alley in 45 minutes — but the more slowly you go, the more it rewards you.
In July the Borgo hosts the Festa di Sant'Ampelio with torchlit processions; in December a small but genuinely charming Christmas market fills the Piazzetta.
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