It appears as "The Castle of the Pyrenees" by Magritte, Apricale, a tiny Ligurian village, one of the most beautiful villages of Italy.
Where is it?
In the province of Imperia (Liguria), a step away from France, between the Maritime Alps and the Ligurian Alps, seems to be in a fairy tale. It emerges perched on a mound, not very high, but which, in the green, looks like a naked stone suspended in the air, with a nativity scene resting on it. Apricale is surprising whether you get there from the inaccessible streets that connect it to triora, another beautiful mountain village, the village of the Witches, whether you reach it from the sea, from Imperia, passing through Dolceacqua, another enchanted place. It is a village carved into the stone and clinging to the rocks. A maze of alleys, dry stone walls, stone bridges and tunnels form the backbone. Routes made for mules, when the roads from the sea were only steep paths in the woods. The roads are still winding but well passable.
What to do in Apricale?
It is the quintessence of Liguria, which slips from the mountains into the Mediterranean. The Castle of the Lizard, which stands out on the square, at the top of Apricale, next to the church, is a balcony overlooking the mountains, ideal destinations for a weekend of trekking. A short distance away Dolceacqua and just further away the beautiful villages of Triora, Montalto, Badalucco. But also the sea or Pigna, with its thermal baths, a large historic establishment, secluded and well-kept, at excellent prices, popular with cousins from across the Alps. Apricale is a village where you can immerse yourself in silence and contemplate the stars, appreciate the darkness and peace, after a dinner at the garrison Slow Food, Da Delio, goat and beans with local Vermentino. Enjoy a breathtaking view of the wooded valley from the windows of the authentic stone houses of the Muntaecara multi-building hotel. Fabulous welcome, Apricale is also a garrison of some handicraft niches (historical production of fine wines and extra virgin olive oils) and artists, in particular a manufacturer of highly original painted mailboxes.
A romantic village but not only ...
In the most remote past, the romantic village of Apricale was a place of exchange between the Ligurian Gauls and Celts. The alliance that, alongside the Carthaginians, brought Rome to its knees, against the indomitable Liguria. A place of passage for knights, Occitan minstrels and sailors. Destination of diligent monks who, at the beginning of the Middle Ages, brought the cultivation of olives (in Apricale there is the stroscia, the original gelato with oil). The trees they made the fortune of the territory, a place where one could only have goat's milk and chestnuts, in ancient times. Excellent chestnuts to make flour with which to make chestnuts, pasta, not to mention roasted chestnuts.
In Apricale you will find the world designed by Emanuele Luzzati and Italo Calvino. A crossroads of worlds, mountains, mule tracks, poets, painters, tourists, walkers. Even the naive paintings on the walls help to create this unique atmosphere, of reconnection with the historical past, with the soul of the world, with nature. The "remote province", of houses abandoned until a few years ago, without noise, to be rediscovered and which, with good will and love, becomes the protagonist and the driving force of a new tourism ("with a human face"), of an ancient-new way of being in the world and with the world. Far from stereotypes and homologations of mass tourism from the spotlight.
