Rapallo art and culture

In this short guide we have included the main monuments and buildings of historical, artistic and cultural importance in Rapallo:

• Sanctuary of Our Lady of Montallegro: it was July 2, 1557, when a shepherd, Giovanni Chichizola, stopped to rest after a long journey in the shade of a rock near Monte Leto, saw a tablet next to a source of fresh water wood on which the Madonna was depicted. The “Quadretto”, as the people of Rapallo will call it, will soon prove to be a providential sign to which the Sanctuary on the mountain overlooking Rapallo will be dedicated. After the Event, the mountain will be called Monte Allegro.
• Rapallo Castle: located at the eastern end of the Lungomare Vittorio Veneto, it is one of the symbols of the city. Built in 1550 for defensive purposes, it is now home to prestigious exhibitions and conferences. Every year, on July 3, it is the protagonist of the feast in honor of the apparition of Our Lady of Montallegro, during which it is "set on fire" with fireworks.
• Pieve di Santo Stefano: built in the historic center of Rapallo, this church was the first Christian building to be built in our city, in 1155. Seat of the Confraternita dei Neri, every year during the Christmas period it hosts the typical Genoese nativity scene.
• Church of San Michele di Pagana: another historic building, dating back to the 12th century, houses the painting by the painter Van Dyck depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus between Saints Francesco and Bernardo and Francesco Orero.
• Valle Christi Monastery: included among the Italian national monuments, it is a precious example of Gothic architecture in the Ligurian territory. It is said that in very ancient times, a nun, madly in love with a shepherd, transgressed the chastity rule by becoming pregnant and that as punishment she was walled up alive, with her newborn baby girl, in a convent cell. Many assert that on moonless nights a poignant lament rises from the ancient stones and spreads across the countryside.
• Gaffoglio Museum: in the suggestive cloister of the ancient convent of the Poor Clares there is the Museum dedicated to Attilio and Cleofe Gaffoglio, where various art objects dating from the fourteenth and twentieth centuries are exhibited, collected by the two spouses over a life and generously donated to the Municipality of Rapallo in 2000.
• Torre di Punta Pagana: a few minutes from the center of Rapallo, immersed in the green of the Mediterranean scrub and overlooking the blue sea of Liguria, a Saracen tower dating back to the sixteenth century rises on top of a promontory, which still retains original spaces and settings .