HISTORY OF RAPALLO:
It seems that Rapallo was settled around the year 700 BC, but its origins are still unclear. The area was dominated by the Lombards starting with the 7th century AD, and later, to the end of the 8th century, the town was conquered by the Franks of Charlemagne. Read More [...]
In 964, the name of the town was mentioned for the first time in a document. Another document from 1070 attests an attack from the sea by the Republic of Pisa, for revenge against the historical rival Genoa, an event repeated also in 1076 and again in 1079.
On September 1494, Rapallo was invaded by the Aragonese fleet, which freed the population from the Genoese domination. On May 2, 1495, a Genoese naval fleet captured all the French ships in the Port of Rapallo and conquered the city again.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Rapallo, along the entire Liguria, was annexed to the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1815, after the Congress of Vienna, Rapallo was included in the Kingdom of Sardinia, and it became part of the newly created Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
GEOGRAPHY OF RAPALLO:
Rapallo is a town of about 29,000 inhabitants, part of the Metropolitan City of Genoa and the Italian region of Liguria. Its territory is located in the western part of the Gulf of Tigullio, on the coast of the Ligurian Sea. Read More [...]
The town is situated 7 kilometers north of Portofino, 9 kilometers east of Camogli, 17 kilometers southeast of Bogliasco, 18 kilometers northwest of Sestri Levante, 29 kilometers southeast of Genoa, 45 kilometers northwest of Monterosso al Mare, the northernmost village of the Cinque Terre National Park, 75 kilometers northwest of La Spezia, 140 kilometers northwest of Pisa, 175 kilometers south of Milan, 190 kilometers southeast of Turin, 210 kilometers northwest of Florence, 225 kilometers west of Bologna, 330 kilometers southwest of Venice, 460 kilometers northwest of Rome, and about 690 kilometers northwest of Naples.
TRANSPORT TO RAPALLO:
The closest airport is the Cristoforo Colombo Airport, in Genoa, located about 35 kilometers away, but you can also arrive at the Galileo Galilei Airport, the main airport of Tuscany, located about 145 kilometers away, in Pisa. Read More [...]
From Genoa or Pisa, you can get to Rapallo by train. A train trip from Genoa takes between half an hour and an hour, and the cheapest ticket costs 3.90€. From Pisa, a trip takes about 2 hours, and the cheapest ticket costs 13.00€.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN RAPALLO:
In Rapallo, you can visit the Castle-on-the-Sea (Castello sul Mare), erected in 1551 to counter the frequent pirate attacks, the Castle of Punta Pagana, seat of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Basilica of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, consecrated in 1118 and restored in the early 17th century, and the small but beautiful Chiosco della Musica.
