Stella

Places we love

The spots we recommend, a stone's throw away.

Places3 min read

Vele d'Epoca, the week the port changes its face

There's a week, between late August and early September, when you don't recognise Calata Anselmi. At Porto Maurizio, hulls of wood and brass launched a century ago drop anchor, and in 2026 the boats that raced the America's Cup turn up too. From the house, in Oneglia, you get there in ten minutes on the seaside cycle path.

Places3 min read

Borgo Foce, the fishermen's village of Porto Maurizio

Below the Parasio hill there's a fishing village that looks like a film set: pink and yellow houses clinging to the rocks, the gozzi boats, the waves reaching the walls. For me it's a place of the heart: this is where I had my graduation party, and where my daughter Emma had her favourite dish.

Places3 min read

Casa della Rocca, inside a mill in Dolcedo

In Dolcedo, twenty minutes up the valley, inside an early-1900s mill with the millstone and the press still in place. Under the stone vaults they bring you a Ligurian kitchen that holds land and sea together — sometimes on the same plate — and that the Michelin Guide has put in its selection. Closed on Tuesdays: best to phone and book.

Places3 min read

Censin da Bea, my 18th-century oil mill

My favourite among the valley places of the Imperia hinterland. An 18th-century oil mill in Borgomaro, with the stone millstones in the middle of the room and the cooking of the Ligurian mountains: snails, guinea fowl, game. You sit down and you understand you've crossed to the other side of the hill.

Places3 min read

Chez Braccioforte, my father's fish place

The fish restaurant of the Oneglia harbour: the same family for five generations, a dining room with real tablecloths, and fish bought every day at the auction right out front. It's one of my father's places of the heart, and when I'm back in Oneglia it's where I like to return.

Places3 min read

Where to eat fish in Imperia (and around)

There's fish that was still in the sea this morning and on your plate by dinner. In Oneglia, under the arcades of the port, and then down the coast as far as Cervo and Sanremo: I don't eat fish myself, but these are the places the real connoisseurs in my circle swear by, from the 1892 classic to the buridda of old.

Places3 min read

Where to eat farinata in Oneglia

Chickpea flour, water, oil and salt, baked in a copper pan in a wood-fired oven: farinata is the Ligurian street food par excellence, and in Imperia it even has its own name and its own twist. Here's where to eat it properly.

Places3 min read

Hostaria Besugo, the real sea cooking of the harbour

On the Oneglia harbour, under the arcades of Calata Cuneo, the Hostaria Besugo does old-fashioned Ligurian sea cooking: buridda, cuttlefish zimino, the freshest raw fish. Stone walls, vaults, an open oven. In the diary I've already called it the beacon of sea cooking on the harbour, and here's why.

Places5 min read

Getting around Imperia without a car (or almost), summer 2026

In summer, a car in Imperia is more of a problem than a solution. Here's how to get around without stress, from someone who grew up here: real walking times, the Riviera Trasporti buses stop by stop along the coast, the train to Sanremo and Genoa, and the cycle path heading west. Honest about the limits too, because Imperia is hilly.

Places3 min read

Osteria della Ciccia, the meat trip up the Arroscia valley

When the craving for meat is the serious kind, you get in the car and drive up the Arroscia valley: in Ortovero there's a Tuscan osteria where the grilled fiorentina comes from Dario Cecchini's shop. Fixed menu with the wine included and an open kitchen — with one honest piece of advice for the drive home.

Places4 min read

Osteria Didù, the down-to-earth Michelin of Porto Maurizio

Omar's osteria on via Cascione, in Porto Maurizio, opposite the Teatro Cavour. It's in the Michelin guide (Bib Gourmand) but there's nothing intimidating about it: traditional Ligurian cooking, with land and sea on the same menu — stuffed mussels and borage ravioli with meat sauce. The best of Liguria, on one plate.

Places3 min read

Porca Vacca, the kingdom of meat on the port of Oneglia

The meat osteria on the port of Oneglia: tagliate, steaks and the famous giro carne, with selected Italian beef, Piedmontese, even a touch of wagyu, under the arcades of Calata Cuneo. And the best part: from Stella sul Mare you get there on foot, so you can enjoy the red with no worries.

Places6 min read

Inland food festivals, summer 2026

In summer, up above Imperia, every village has its own festival: a square gets closed off, a grill gets lit, and you eat the local dish. Here are the ones worth the drive up, the dates that are already set and the ones still to be reconfirmed with the Pro Loco.

Places3 min read

Salvo Cacciatori, the dinner for special occasions

Oneglia's restaurant for the big occasions: on Via Vieusseux since 1919, the same family since 1905, in the Michelin Guide for more than sixty years. It's where stoccafisso all'onegliese — the flagship dish of my neighbourhood — becomes a celebration: the place to bring anyone who loves fish, when there's something to mark.

Places1 min read

Where to eat farinata in Oneglia

Real farinata only comes from a wood oven lit for generations. Three places in Oneglia, including the one where I grew up.

Places2 min read

Lo Sciabecco, and the pizza we've never managed to replicate

A European champion, a pizza with spaghetti on top, and a family mystery: Salvatore Saiola's pizzeria, five minutes from Oneglia.

Places5 min read

The beaches of Imperia, zone by zone

The sea in Imperia is gravel and rock, with a few ribbons of sand toward the west. Here's the precise picture zone by zone — Borgo Peri, Marina, Foce, Prino — with free beaches and lidos, sand and stones, and where I go myself. Plus Diano and Cervo, for a change of scene.

Places2 min read

Oneglia's market

As a child I hated it, today it relaxes me. Oneglia's market, behind the church of San Giovanni: trombette, broad beans, basil, and the flavour you won't find up North.

Places4 min read

The seaside cycle path, from Imperia toward Sanremo

Since the Imperia stretch opened in April 2025, you can ride from town all the way to Sanremo without a single climb, on the old railway line right by the water. Here's what it's really like, where to rent bikes, and what to expect from the tunnels.

Places3 min read

Calata Cuneo, the port of Oneglia

The port of Oneglia after sunset: the Caffè del Porto, the pizzerias, the fish, and the brides who arrive by boat. The place where, as teenagers, the aperitivo never ended.

Places4 min read

Where to go out in the evening in Imperia (and nearby), summer 2026

Let's be clear right away: summer in Imperia is not big-city nightlife. But a slow, well-made evening by the sea is something you take home with you. Here's where I go, in town and beyond.

Places5 min read

The Parasio, on foot and at sunset

The Parasio is the old town of Porto Maurizio: you walk it, it spirals up to the Duomo di San Maurizio, and it opens onto the sea from the Logge di Santa Chiara. Here's how to visit it, ideally at sunset, and the one spot I keep going back for.

Places1 min read

Where to buy the oil (the real one)

Good taggiasca oil isn't bought at the supermarket. You get it by the tin, from the mill: here's which ones, plus the Carli Emporium for the more commercial oil.

Places3 min read

Monte Calvario, Imperia Seen From Above

Above Porto Maurizio there's a hill with a sanctuary, cypresses and the finest view in all of Imperia. The path up is a bit run-down, but it's worth the effort. Here's when to go and what you'll see.

Places3 min read

Bussana Vecchia, the artists' village above Sanremo

Destroyed by the earthquake of 23 February 1887 and left a ghost town for decades, Bussana Vecchia came back to life in the 1960s thanks to a community of artists who made homes among the ruins. It isn't the cheeriest spot in the western Riviera, but it's one you don't forget.

Places5 min read

Cervo, the village of the coral fishers

Fifteen minutes from Oneglia there's Cervo: alleys climbing toward a Baroque church above the sea, the International Chamber Music Festival in summer, and below the village a little harbour where the water is the real deal.

Places4 min read

Triora, the village of the witches

Fifty minutes of hairpin bends from the coast and you reach Triora: a medieval village clinging to the mountain, a little grim, marked by the witch trials of the late 1500s. You come for the history and the atmosphere, but also for the dark bread and the bruzzo. Here's what to see and what to take home.

Places5 min read

Nice for a day, and the socca that tastes like home

From Oneglia, Nice is barely an hour away: train via Ventimiglia or car along the coast. Promenade des Anglais, Vieux Nice, the Cours Saleya market, the hill over the Baie des Anges. And socca, the Niçois cousin of our farinata. With honest notes on trains, parking and summer crowds.

Places4 min read

The Lovers' Walk

A footpath suspended over the rocks between the Porto Maurizio marina and Borgo Foce. Lovely early in the morning, even better in the evening. It carries the name of a twenty-year-old boy. Wear good shoes.

Places6 min read

Monte Carlo on a Day Trip

From Imperia the Principality of Monaco is a little over an hour by train, changing at Ventimiglia. Place du Casino, the yacht harbour, the noon changing of the guard, the aquarium over the sea. Honest about prices, parking, dress code, and the Grand Prix that seals off the city in June.

Places2 min read

Frantoio Benza, in Dolcedo

In Dolcedo, behind Imperia, there's the Benza oil mill: Taggiasca olive oil since 1853, but also olive pâté, pitted olives and a sweet-and-sour trombette zucchini that's worth the drive. The gem for anyone who wants to see the real Ponente.

Places4 min read

Oneglia's savoury breakfasts

In Liguria breakfast is savoury: a strip of focaccia dipped into a cappuccino. It sounds like heresy, and instead it's the right way to start the day. Here's where to do it in Oneglia and across in Porto.

Places4 min read

Villa Grock, the house of the king of clowns

Above Oneglia stands a villa that looks like a child drew it with too much imagination: mascarons, theatrical staircases, a little lake with a temple in the middle. It was built by Grock, the highest-paid clown in Europe. For us, it's the place of the letters to Santa.

Places4 min read

Dalla Padella alla Brace

A Slow Food osteria in the caruggi of Oneglia, with its own vegetable garden up in Oliveto. The place for meat dishes, rabbit braised in Rossese, and a mid-August birthday I still carry with me.

Places4 min read

Valloria, the village of painted doors

Valloria, a hamlet of Prelà behind Imperia, has just over thirty residents and one hundred and sixty-seven doors painted by artists from around the world. You reach it by passing through Dolcedo, up the hairpins. And then there's the festival: «A Valloria fai baldoria», the slogan I can't get out of my head.

Places4 min read

Osteria dai Pippi, in Borgo Marina

A tiny osteria in Borgo Marina, below the Parasio. A very short menu chalked on a board, top-quality food, bread and focaccia made in house and served with the local olive oil. I don't go often, but every time it's worth it.

Places3 min read

Where to eat on land, from the osteria to the hills

There's a moment, on holiday, when you've had enough fish and you want meat, ravioli, an old olive mill at the end of a valley. Here's where I go, from an osteria in Oneglia to the villages inland.