The Alta Via dei Monti Liguri: 440 km Between Sea and Sky, Meeting Almost Nobody

The Alta Via dei Monti Liguri is one of Italy's longest trails and one of its least walked. Around 440 kilometres from the French border at Ventimiglia to Ceparana in the Val di Vara, crossing the entire mountain arc that separates Liguria from Piedmont and Emilia. The sea is almost always visible, a blue stripe at the bottom of the descent, but you look down at it from above without ever touching it.

The path follows the main ridge at elevations ranging between 600 and 2,000 metres. No mountaineering equipment is needed — this is trekking, not climbing — but strong legs are essential, along with the ability to navigate: signage exists but is not always reliable, and in some sections the trail merges with forestry tracks.

The western stretch, from the Ligurian Alps to the Savona area, is the most alpine: high-altitude pastures, small glacial lakes, larch forests. You walk along the crest with the Maritime Alps behind you and Corsica on the horizon on clear days. Refuges are few and often unstaffed — you sleep in your sleeping bag, cook on a camping stove, and you are alone.

The central stretch, behind Genoa, is the wildest: dense forests of beech and chestnut, abandoned villages on the hillsides, medieval mule tracks that once linked coast to hinterland. Here you walk for hours without meeting anyone, accompanied only by the sound of your own footsteps and the wind through the beeches.

The eastern stretch, above the Cinque Terre and then into the Val di Vara, is the most panoramic: you look down on the Gulf of Poets and the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago from 1,000 metres, with the crowded beaches of Monterosso looking like another planet below. The arrival in Ceparana is understated, without fanfare — you descend into the valley, catch a train, return to civilisation with heavy legs and a clear head.

The Alta Via can be walked in its entirety in 25 to 30 days, but it can be broken into sections of three to five days thanks to frequent access points from both coast and hinterland. The best time is June–September. Resupply is the main challenge: in some stretches you must descend to the valley for water and food.

This is a trail for those who love solitude and do not seek comfort. The Alta Via dei Monti Liguri is not a brand — it is a ridgeline.

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