Imperia, green and family-friendly

When I was a kid in Imperia, the idea of a "family-friendly town" simply didn't exist. You went to the beach and that was it, towel spread over the pebbles and the umbrella flying off in the wind. Then Emma came along, my daughter, and I started looking at the town where I grew up with new eyes: where do I park the stroller, where can I let her run without worrying, where do I find shade at noon. And one more thing, more recent, that hits close to home: where do I plug the car in. Because a while back we switched to electric, and the western Riviera — surprise — turned out to be convenient.

Imperia, with Porto Maurizio and Oneglia, seen from above

Charging the car, stress-free

Let's start there, with the "green" side, which is the question I get most often from guests who arrive in an electric car. The big one is the Tesla Supercharger at Emporio Fratelli Carli, on Via Garessio 11. Ten stalls, up to 150 kW, open around the clock, and — many people don't know this — usable by non-Tesla cars too with a CCS plug. It's right in the centre, in Oneglia: it sits behind the old station, a hundred metres or so from the centre and right next to the cycle path. And that's the beauty of it, because you're not stuck waiting around: you leave the car charging and meanwhile take a walk through the centre, head down to Calata Cuneo for an aperitivo, or stroll along the cycle path right there. And if you fancy it, the Carli emporium next door is worth a look in itself.

The Tesla Supercharger at Emporio Fratelli Carli, Oneglia It's not just Tesla, though. Imperia has something like sixty-five to seventy charging points across town and around it, with the usual networks — BeCharge, Enel X — scattered all over; there's an Enel X one on Via Ricca, near the centre. My honest tip as someone who lives here: download an app like PlugShare or Nextcharge and check availability in real time, because a charger that's free on paper is sometimes taken in reality. But here's the real point: five or six years ago you charged with an eyedropper here, today you can genuinely use the western Riviera as an electric base without any stress. For anyone who wants to move from one village to the next while polluting little, that's a real difference.

Electric cars park for free

And there's one last thing that always goes down well with guests arriving electric: in Imperia, if you drive a fully electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle you park for free, even in the paid bays. Just leave your registration document (where the fuel type is shown) and the number plate visible on the dashboard, or ask for the free permit at the Marina di Imperia offices. The up-to-date terms are here, under "Gratuità della sosta per veicoli elettrici".

Villa Grock and the playgrounds

Now the family side, which is the part I most enjoy telling because I live it every week with Emma. My number one spot is Villa Grock, up on Via Fanny Roncati Carli in Oneglia. It's the villa of Grock the clown — yes, a hugely famous Swiss clown who built himself a kind of villa-theatre here, full of symbols, absurd staircases, a little pond with a small temple in the middle that you reach by a footbridge. Inside there's the Clown Museum, with interactive installations that work great with kids, and they often run workshops for the little ones. Tickets are six euros, four for ages six to eighteen, and free for under-fives. Honestly the museum alone doesn't last long for a very small child, but the park keeps them busy for ages: Emma chases the ducks while I get to breathe.

Villa Grock, the clown Grock's villa-theatre in Oneglia

And then, obvious but true, Imperia is full of playgrounds, and with a child you notice it straight away. Our favourite is the one at the Rabina, in Borgo Marina: besides swings and slides there's a zip line, the kind where you hang on and fly from one end to the other, and Emma would take turns on it for hours. Bigger is the Parco Urbano in Oneglia, with lawns and trees where the kids run and you find a bench in the shade. And then the neighbourhood playgrounds, dotted everywhere: a small one on the Spianata, another in the little square right by the Borgo Marina beaches, handy for letting the little ones blow off steam a step from the sea. They're not theme parks, but it's exactly this web of small, free spaces that, with kids, makes the day easier.

The Rabina playground, in Borgo Marina

Sea and trips with the kids

Then there's the sea, obviously, but with an eye on the children. Spiaggia d'Oro is the classic urban sandy beach with shallow water, made for families with small kids; there are equipped lidos with a lifeguard, a play area and all the facilities — like La Rabina or Sogni d'Estate — where you keep the stroller in the shade and don't have to do balancing acts on the pebbles. It's not the postcard beach with crystal-clear water you find in the villages further west, to be clear — it's a town beach, handy and practical, which is exactly what you need when you've got a kid who collapses at midday.

Spiaggia d'Oro, sand and shallow water at Borgo Marina And if you want to give the kids a day they'll remember, factor in a trip out of town: Le Caravelle, the water park in Ceriale, towards Albenga. It isn't in Imperia — it's about forty minutes' drive east — but it's the biggest in Liguria: eighty thousand square metres of pools, slides and lawns, open in summer from June to September. I mention it because for me it's a family place in the literal sense: as a kid I went there often with my dad and with Francesco, and it's one of those summer memories I still carry with me. Then, years later, I took Emma there for the first time, and she fell in love with water parks exactly as I had at her age. For the little ones there's the Summergibile, an area all their own with a big yellow submarine and child-sized slides. If rain falls on your beach plans, or you simply want a different kind of day, it's the card to play.

Le Caravelle, the water park in Ceriale

The seaside cycle path

The thing I recommend to every family I host, though, is the Parco Costiero cycle path. It was created by recovering the old railway line that ran along the sea: it's flat, wide, car-free, and runs from Imperia westward for miles and miles. You take the kids out on bikes without the anxiety of traffic, there are rest areas where you can stop for a bite, and the new stretch on the Imperia side opened recently, so it's finally well connected. For me it's the most genuinely kid-friendly thing Imperia has done in recent years. I go into more detail in the post about the cycle path.

The Parco costiero cycle path, along the sea

A summer of free events

In summer the town fills up with free events — last year there were more than eighty between June and September, from the squares to the docks — and several are aimed at children, like the evening shows along the seafront. Among them is our own village feast, the Feast of San Giovanni in Oneglia, which in late June fills the square with stalls, music and fireworks over the sea.

I'm not telling you Imperia is Disneyland. It's a real town, built on hills, with its climbs, its building sites and its flaws. But between a car you charge while you do something else and a daughter pedalling safely by the sea, today it's a place where a family — or anyone travelling light, electric and curious — genuinely feels at home. And that's coming from someone who grew up here, and is now raising Emma here.