The Unfinished Road, Finished: the seafront path Imperia waited decades for

There's a place here in Imperia whose name says it all on its own: l'Incompiuta, "the Unfinished One." People have called it that since before I was born. It's one of those names that turn affectionate from sheer repetition, but that at heart describe something missing. A seafront road, looping around Capo Berta, meant to link our town to Diano Marina, and for decades it just sat there: stretches open, stretches closed, gates, no-entry signs, rockfalls. Beautiful and unusable at the same time.

Imperia seen from the sea: Porto Maurizio and Oneglia spread along the water, the hill rising behind

The news is that, as of a few days ago, it's no longer unfinished. They inaugurated it on Saturday 20 June 2026, with a ribbon-cutting at the Galeazza and an opening ride. Mayor Scajola, who has seen his fair share of bad luck with this road like every mayor before him, rechristened it with a pun that's already become a local catchphrase: the IM-Compiuta (roughly, "the now-finished one"). A silly joke, but it captures how heavily that name weighed. I'm writing this the day after, and I'll admit it feels strange: something I'd filed under "perpetually coming soon" is now just a thing you can do.

The opening ride along the new stretch around Capo Berta: the sea on the left, the cliff with its rockfall netting on the right

To understand why this is almost a festival here, you need the history, and the history is long, because the idea of a sea-level road around Capo Berta is ancient. It goes all the way back to Napoleon's day: apparently the notion of a coastal passage existed even then, and during the First World War Austrian prisoners are said to have dug a narrow path right at the waterline. Then, in the 1960s, ANAS gave it a serious shot. It was meant to become State Road 449, a road for cars. They opened it to traffic in the early 1970s and closed it within months: boulders kept falling from the Capo Berta cliff onto the carriageway, and for a state highway that was a problem with no easy fix. From then on, decades of limbo. And this is where the Incompiuta became what it was for us: our scaled-down version of the Strait of Messina bridge. The perfect campaign promise, the one that comes back every election — we'll be the ones to finish it! — and that, once the vote is over, stays exactly as it was. With one difference that makes me smile today: of those two great unfinished projects of Italy, at least one, ours, finally made it.

In 1994 it was reclassified as a cycle-pedestrian road, and in 2001 management passed to the Province. Over the years it was opened and closed again more than once, always for safety reasons: one bad sea storm or one inspection that didn't go through, and the gates came back. And those very gates, for us kids, were a lure: the Incompiuta had the ring of legend, and slipping past the barrier that closed the road was a taste of the forbidden, adventure a stone's throw from home. Anyone who walked it in the good years remembers it like this: a battered ribbon of asphalt, the smell of salt, the sea on your right close enough to touch, and that slightly unreal feeling of moving through a work that was never finished. Honestly, that was part of its charm too: wild, empty, out of time.

What they've completed now is the missing link: the stretch that was needed to go from Imperia all the way to Diano Marina without a break, along the roughly four kilometres that curl around Capo Berta. They secured the wall on the uphill side, repaved the surface, added rest areas, benches, a few information panels and lighting. The figures going around put the investment at around 11 million euro for this section, between EU recovery, national and regional funds, plus another 10 million already earmarked for 2026-2028 for the definitive consolidation of the retaining wall and the sea defences. In plain terms: the heavy work on the most delicate part isn't entirely done, and I won't sell it to you as if it were sealed forever — on a coast like this, with rock that keeps shifting, maintenance is forever. But the connection, the thing that had been missing for a lifetime, is finally there.

And there's a bigger picture I really like. This stretch closes a gap in a much longer route: the Tyrrhenian Cycleway, Riviera dei Fiori branch, a roughly 45-kilometre seafront cycle path running from Ospedaletti to Andora. It means that from here, by bike or on foot, you can move along the coast for a good distance without climbing onto the Aurelia to fight the traffic. For anyone staying with us it's a gift: and I say that as someone who, on holiday, would happily leave the car parked.

And with this road, to be honest, I have unfinished business of my own. As a teenager, in my high-school years, my crowd was down in Diano Marina, and I'd go there pretty much every day: by bike, over Capo Berta on the Aurelia. It's a treacherous climb, and on a saddle a downright dangerous one, with cars brushing past you on the bends. Fun, yes, especially on the way back, freewheeling downhill with the wind in your face — but with hindsight a good dose of recklessness. Today a kid gets to Diano safely and quickly, by bike or even on foot, without sharing the tarmac with cars. And when I think what I'd have given to have that road back in my Diano days, I understand on my own what a gift it is.

The Milano-Sanremo monument atop Capo Berta, with the busts of the champions and the race roll of honour

One honest note, because I don't deal in postcards. There's very little shade along that stretch: it faces due south, so in summer go early in the morning or toward evening, with water and a hat. The climb up to Capo Berta is no Tour de France stage, but it's not a flat stroll either: with small children or a pushchair, expect some effort. And since it's a brand-new handover, it's possible that in the first few weeks some sections get closed on and off for final touches, so check before you set out. That said: for those of us who live here, finally being able to walk a road called "the Unfinished One" is one of those small satisfactions you'd stopped expecting. If you're staying at the house, it's a trip I recommend: leave Imperia at dawn, do the whole loop around Capo Berta, and drop down into Diano for breakfast. If you fancy it, heading the other way you can carry on toward the village of Cervo.

The Diano Marina seafront at dusk, with Capo Berta closing off the bay on the horizon