Camogli

Camogli's seafront is a wall of tall narrow houses in ochre, red and pink, and much of what looks like moulded stonework, window surrounds, cornices and balustrades, is painted on flat plaster, a Ligurian trompe l'oeil tradition used because paint was cheaper than stone; the houses were painted in strong colours so fishermen could pick out their own from the water. The name is said to come from casa delle mogli, the house of the wives, from the long absences of the men at sea. On the second Sunday of May the Sagra del Pesce fries fish in a pan several metres across on the quay.

What you actually see

• The painted facades - trompe l'oeil stonework on flat plaster.
• The tall seafront - narrow houses stacked in strong colours.
• The Sagra del Pesce - a giant frying pan on the quay each May.
• The pebble beach - a stony shore below the houses.

When to go

May to September; the fish festival falls on the second Sunday of May. August is busy. The coastal paths to San Fruttuoso are best in spring and autumn.

Honest expectations

The beach is coarse pebble, not sand. The town is small and steep behind the front. Festival day is extremely crowded for a small place.

Nearby

San Fruttuoso lies east by path or boat; Genoa is west.