Borgo Foce, the fishermen's village of Porto Maurizio

Imperia is two towns in one: Oneglia on one side, Porto Maurizio on the other, separated by the stream and by an old rivalry that still makes people smile today. I grew up on the Oneglia side, but if you ask me which is the most beautiful spot overlooking the sea on the other side, I'll answer without thinking: Borgo Foce.

It's a fishing village, an ancient one, at the mouth of the Caramagna stream, right below the Parasio hill. The first time you get there you stop for a moment just to look, because it seems like a stage set: pink, yellow, pastel-coloured houses packed one against the other all the way down to the water, the black rocks in front, and when the sea is rough the waves reach right up to the walls of the houses. It's no accident they're built that way, wider at the base, to withstand the winter storms. A film scene, and I don't say it lightly: it's one of those places that, if they'd put it in a movie, you'd have believed it.

The colourful houses of Borgo Foce on the rocks, with a wave breaking and the hill behind.

What remains of its seafaring past is the little harbour for the gozzi, the traditional Ligurian fishing boats, named after a sailor, Emanuele Aicardi. From here begins one of the most beautiful walks in Imperia, the one we call the Lovers' walk: a path overlooking the sea that connects Borgo Foce to Borgo Marina, and arrives right here, at the Foce. For anyone trying to get their bearings: Borgo Foce is one of the stops when I explain how to get around Imperia, and its little beach is among those I describe in the beaches of Imperia.

So much for the postcard. But I'm tied to Borgo Foce for a reason the postcard doesn't tell.

My graduation party

When I graduated, I had the party here. There was, right at the far end of the village, a place with history, the Noname Drink Bar: one of those spots where you'd go for a drink and end up staying for hours, with the sea a couple of steps away and the salt air on your skin. There I celebrated my degree with friends, and that evening Borgo Foce became, for me, much more than a pretty place to photograph. It became a memory.

And this is the thing I love about Borgo Foce: it's a place that has changed face several times, yet always stayed itself. Where the Noname was, years later, a fish restaurant opened, the Nero di Seppia. And the Nero di Seppia, for my family, meant one precise thing: the mixed fried fish. It was my daughter Emma's favourite dish. We'd go, and she already knew what she'd order before she even sat down.

The Nero di Seppia closed in 2021, after twelve years. I write it because it's only right to know, and because it's proof of what I was saying: places open and close, signs change, but the village stays. The colourful houses are still there, the rocks too, and Emma's fried fish has become a memory I carry with me every time I pass by. Don't go looking for the Nero di Seppia: it's gone. Go for the village.

Porto Maurizio seen from the sea: the Parasio promontory and, below it, the villages facing the water, Borgo Foce among them.

What to do at the Foce today

Because Borgo Foce, today, is a living place, and it's meant to be lived. After the refurbishment of a few years ago it became almost entirely pedestrian, with the tables of its bars facing the water: you walk up, you sit down, and you stay. That's the best part of it, really — doing nothing with the sea in front of you.

To eat or drink, today, the fixed point is Foce Beach: the village's lido, an equipped beach inside a sheltered bay, and above all the kiosk-bar that stays open from breakfast right through to the aperitivo. You sit by the sea with a glass of Pigato or Vermentino — the local whites — and a few plates, and you understand why the people of Imperia come to the Foce on purpose. It isn't the buzz of the Oneglia port: it's the opposite, a suspended place, where time runs slower.

If you're at Stella sul Mare, you're in Oneglia, but Porto Maurizio and Borgo Foce are a few minutes away. And it's worth crossing the stream, forgetting the old rivalry between the two towns for an hour, and going to see how beautiful the other half of Imperia is. I still do it, every time I come back. And every time, passing in front of the rocks, that graduation party and Emma's fried fish come back to me.