Lerici is often introduced through its castle above the harbour, but the town is only one part of the place visitors enter. The municipality occupies the eastern side of the Gulf of La Spezia and gathers a chain of waterside and hillside settlements, from San Terenzo and Tellaro to La Serra, Pugliola and Pozzuolo. ISTAT estimated 9,143 residents in the whole Comune on 1 January 2026; this is the year-round population of the municipal territory, not the summer visitor count and not the population of the seafront alone.
A harbour town with several local centers
The waterfront gives Lerici its first impression: boats at the marina, a curving bay and the dark outline of Castello San Giorgio on the rocky point. Behind the promenade, narrow lanes climb through the older centre. Across the bay, San Terenzo has its own castle, beach and compact streets. The two settlements face one another across the water and are joined by a public seaside walk. This pairing makes the gulf legible on foot: one can move from a working harbour and castle to a sandy beach and another fortified village without treating either as a mere day-trip backdrop.
Beyond the coast, the municipal map rises quickly into olive-growing hills. La Serra and Pugliola preserve the scale of small Ligurian villages, while Solaro and Pozzuolo sit among terraces, old paths and coastal viewpoints. Tellaro occupies a rocky promontory farther east; the riverside plain of Senato and the industrial shoreline at Muggiano reveal still other sides of a municipality more varied than its postcard image. Each hamlet has a different relationship to the sea, the hills or the Magra valley.
From a probable early settlement to a strategic fortress
The municipality’s historical account places the earliest traces around the Etruscan period and considers a settlement around the seventh century BCE probable. That is a reason to speak of an early presence, not to assign Lerici a precise founding date or a named founder. Its sheltered position made the inlet useful to Ligurians and Romans, and it later became a port and trading stop. A documentary reference from 1152 names “de monte Ylicis”; medieval confirmations of the bishops of Luni’s rights followed in 1186 and 1191.
The rivalry between Genoa and Pisa left a lasting mark on the skyline. Lerici was chosen for negotiations, and a peace treaty between the two maritime republics was signed here in 1217. After the naval battle of the Giglio in 1241, Pisa occupied the bay and built the first nucleus of the castle and walls. Genoa retook the stronghold in 1256 and enlarged its defences over later centuries. The fortress is therefore not a single-period monument: its irregular form records repeated military adaptation. In 1528, the admiral Andrea Doria took refuge there before sailing from La Spezia to recover Genoa from French control.
San Terenzo’s smaller castle has a different history. Built around a medieval watchtower, it grew in stages; a 1588 document records the fortification, and local tradition remembers it as a work undertaken by the villagers themselves. The two castles once guarded opposite sides of the bay. Today their presence gives the waterfront walk a clear destination at either end.
Writers, fishing villages and a story told as legend
The Gulf’s literary reputation is tied to real visitors as well as later memory. Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley lived at Casa Magni in San Terenzo in 1822. Sem Benelli is credited locally with giving the Gulf of Poets its celebrated name during a commemorative speech for the writer and anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza. Lerici’s appeal to writers did not erase its working coast: San Terenzo and Tellaro grew from fishing and seafaring communities, and boats, nets and the rhythm of the harbour remain part of the area’s identity.
Tellaro is particularly suited to an unhurried visit. Its close-set houses, narrow lanes and church of San Giorgio beside the water form a small, coherent settlement rather than a collection of viewpoints. The local story of a giant octopus saving the village from a night raid by ringing the church bells belongs to legend, not documented history. It says something about how a maritime community has chosen to remember its vulnerability and its bond with the sea.
In La Serra, steep lanes and mule tracks pass olive groves and Mediterranean scrub; the routes once carried produce downhill toward the port. Pugliola looks across the gulf and has the church of Santa Lucia, whose Romanesque bell tower and medieval inscriptions point to the village’s long religious importance. Senato, near the Magra, is associated with fruit and vegetable cultivation. Muggiano, on the edge shared with La Spezia, developed a shipyard economy from the late nineteenth century; its shipbuilding tradition continued under different owners and became part of Fincantieri in 1984.
Beaches, hills and a coast made for more than swimming
Venere Azzurra occupies the broad central stretch between Lerici and San Terenzo, while San Terenzo has a village beach and Baia Blu lies near Pozzuolo. Farther along the coast, Fiascherino and the coves around Tellaro combine small beaches with rocky edges and steep approaches. Some stretches are free to use and others have seasonal services such as loungers, beach umbrellas, cafés, kayak or pedal-boat rental. Access, facilities and bathing conditions vary by season and site, so check current local information before planning around a particular cove.
There is also a substantial walking landscape behind the shoreline. The municipal tourism site describes marked circular routes linking San Terenzo, Falconara, Pozzuolo and Solaro; another connects Lerici with La Serra, and a longer circuit runs from Tellaro through La Serra, Rocchetta and Zanego. These paths pass through olive country and the Monte Caprione landscape, with views over the Gulf and toward the Magra valley. The terrain includes stairs and steep sections; check trail status and bring suitable footwear rather than assuming every route is an easy promenade.
For a cultural pause, Castello San Giorgio offers the most direct way to read the harbour’s military history, while the smaller San Terenzo castle adds a second perspective on gulf defence. The town’s Cinema Teatro Astoria also hosts theatre, music and community programming, and the municipal visitor-information points help with current events and local services. Boat activity, beach establishments, restaurants and accommodation make Lerici a practical base, while the hill villages offer quieter walks away from the busiest shore.
Getting there and planning a useful visit
Lerici has no railway station. The official municipal visitor guide lists La Spezia Centrale at about 10 kilometres and Sarzana at about 7 kilometres; from either rail hub, ATC buses run directly or with connections to Lerici and nearby settlements. Local free shuttle lines link the coast with parking areas and hillside villages, but routes and frequency change by season. Passenger boats also operate in the gulf on published seasonal timetables, making it possible in service periods to include La Spezia, Portovenere or the islands in a coastal itinerary.
By car, the town is reached from the A12 via Sarzana and from the A15 via La Spezia. Summer access is more complicated than the map suggests: Lerici and San Terenzo have limited-traffic controls, and Tellaro has its own access restrictions. Visitors should check current ZTL rules, parking availability, ferry departures and bus schedules before setting out. A balanced two-day stay might pair the castle and lanes of Lerici with the promenade to San Terenzo, then use a second day for Tellaro and a hill walk through La Serra. That combination shows how the municipality moves from port to beach, from literary memory to working landscape.