The village of Manarola started to be built at the beginning of the thirteenth century by the inhabitants of Volastra who were trying to get easy access to the sea. It’s the second village of the beautiful 5 Terre, coming from La Spezia main  railway station. San Giorgio Guest House is located right in the middle of this old village.

The tower-houses, tall and colourful, connected to one another by precipitous slate stairways, facing their picturesque “carugi”, clinging onto a steep dark rock; these very houses turn the village of Manarola into a bewitching nest!

We advise you to stroll along Belvedere Street: this narrow street (Carugio) flows into a square dedicated to the poet Eugenio Montale, then opens up to the sea and its characteristic little harbor, a call for boats enclosed between two rocky spurs. A little path amidst rocks and cactus will lead you from the harbor to Bonfiglio’s Cape, where you will enjoy an enchanting view over the village and the sea.

Moreover, today, the remains of the castle, a stony built building, shape rounded and well recognizable amid the rocks, incorporated into a private home, but one time, a long time ago, a defensive bulwark against pirates.

Finally, on the upper side of the village, you will find: Pope Innocent IV with the Church of Mary’s Nativity, built with a gothic-Ligurian style, the latter also known as Saint Lawrence Church, the Oratory of the Disciplined, the XIV century Bell Tower and the old S. Rocco’s Hospital too.