Scenes From an Italian Summer

I have second thoughts about seeing a place we love be "discovered." We live maybe 3 hrs from here and, yes, it is a beautiful area without too many tourists except in the summer. If anyone reading this goes because of this article, remember to respect the surroundings and the culture and people. We have seen too many favorite places destroyed by unthinking tourism. Fortunately, as is pointed out, it has a rock beach, scant parking, and not that many placxes to stay, which keeps it beautiful ("for us Italians").

My ancestors are from the areas of Italy u have travelled in. We went touring in 2010. I want to live there now. You are a very fortunate person.

Don't forget to pick up a portion of Farinata at Edo Bar in Sori!! My favourite place for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farinata

“People are good...” Thank you Sebastian, it’s something we all need to remember.

Oh the Italian hospitality, the food, wine, and the Vespa! When will Americans stop stereotyping other countries?

It would’ve been nice to have a map of the area in the print edition of this article as provided in the piece on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic coast p 5. I blame the editor, not Mr. Modak.

I have been visiting this area since 1973 and have lived there often. It is a fragile microclimate that cannot tolerate mass tourism. You should know too that Camogli's beach is all rocks both on land and in the sea. You don't go there for swimming. Sestri Levante (down the coast) has sandy beaches and so does Diano Marina (west of Genoa). I agree that Recco is worth the journey for its excellent food. When it was largely destroyed in the Second World War, the people devoted themselves to preserving memory through food. The children of Recco learn the classic recipes of the area and, each spring, there is a day in which they cook for the grownups. Some of Italy's best food is found in some of the restaurants in Recco. Suggestion: stay in magnificent Genoa, explore its markets, museums and the largest medieval district in Europe. Then, take a local train from Genova Brignole station to towns such as Sori, Bogliasco, Recco, Camogli and Santa Margherita. Savor them and tread lightly in this fragile zone that would be crushed by mass tourism. I wrote a book about this area called "Recipes from Paradise: Life and Food on the Italian Riviera" that made the NY Times Book Review listing as a "Best of" in 1997.

I love the 52 Places series. Great reads all!

As a well travelled reader, I’m amazed at how you satisfy my wanderlust as well as stir fond memories of my own travels.

Been to Recco and area many times over the last couple decades. Please folks, keep invading the area in the summer months when the weather is just right for you. Recco as Bruce mentioned isn’t the “ugly duckling” that the author mentioned. It isn’t crawling with a ton of tourists because it isn’t perched on the sea but is lovely in its own way. Just a hop jump to those areas if you feel inclined which by train is a short trip in either direction. Yes the Focaccia di Recco is fabulous and is indeed very different to what most think of as focaccia. Santa Margherita Ligure not too far away now has huge cruise ships parked off the coast and the last time we where there (not even in the Summer) we had to do our best to avoid the herds of people. You can avoid even that by just wandering further away. All is not totally lost. Enjoy. Been there many times other places ( I won’t share) to go to!

why are you telling other Europeans and Americanos about this place? As if the Brits and Germans have not already done enough damage.

This series and ones like it are my least enjoyable part of the NY Times. Every time an article such as this is posted, a once lovely gem will no longer exist as it once did. Usually, I avoid reading these articles at all as I find them depressing as I know what will soon happen. The hordes will descend and change it forever.

Crowds beyond belief...mid-September is the best time to visit any of the normally crowded venues..like Venice, Dubrovnik, Zadar..or others..

Camogli is a total dump. No one should go there. Stay away because you’d definitely hate it there. Stay far far away.

This article drew me in by just the title, Italian Summer specifically. I have been to Italy several times, three of those times in the summer with my family visiting friends on the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily, which are a trip in itself to get to. I love Italy in every way, the culture, food, people, and breathtaking views. I felt like I would connect to this article in some way just because Modak was in Italy. I was right and wrong in this way. Italy is one country (in theory), but every town/city is like a smaller country in itself with its own architecture, pasta, sauces, family businesses, etc. I loved reading this article because even though I was 1,252 km (almost 800 miles) away, just a few weeks ago, I could connect to how Modak felt going to Italy and feeling welcomed by the people and invited into the culture in just a few days. Reading the article made me feel like I was back there again watching the active island volcano Stromboli erupting into the Mediterranean Sea. Modak spoke about learning to communicate with the locals by broken Italian and google translate with gestures which were funny but very relatable in every way. By finding this article it makes me want to follow his journey over the next six months as he travels around the world and writes about it all. You are an inspiration and you bring out great memories!

Camogli is a lovely city, but Sebastian seems to have missed one of the most interesting pieces of trivia: it is the home to the "Sagra del Pesce," and a series of the largest frying pans (4 meters and larger) in the world. If in the United States it is with pride that a city might claim ownership of the "world's largest ball of twine," then it is a distinctively Italian viewpoint to claim to have the "world's largest working frying pan" I know which of the two I enjoy visiting most.

Looks awful. Crowded.

Print it and the Americans will come.

There are more and more of these articles and television shows which purport to show us the glories of undiscovered gems cherished by locals and off the tourists radar. And then guess what happens? Tourists begin to flock to these places and change them forever. It is the plague of our social media obsessed times -- nothing is secret or sacred anymore.

What a delightful writer!

Finally some video! That makes all the difference and allows for the journey to come alive...

Summers in Italy. It doesn't get any better than that.

One of the best articles I’ve read on the Golfo Paradiso. When I was growing up, my parents had fond memories of Camogli, where they spent their honeymoon (December 1950), and I would listen mesmerized to their descriptions of the food, the sea, the hotel, the people. Also, the article does a great job on the ‘focaccia col formaggio di Recco’. Thank you!

I have been to this area and it's lots more crowded now than it was just ten years ago. It's getting to the point where avoiding crowds is almost impossible if the area has been publicized or you don't go completely off season.

My wife and I had our own wonderful Italian experience in Riva del Garda at the border of the Garda Lake, in the mountains and not so far from the place described in this article. The same indescribably divine Italian food in a small hotel, the beautiful surroundings, the delicate small towns... We long to go back someday.

I first visited Golfo Paradiso 65 years ago, my father the family tour guide. In Portofino, then a sleepy fishing village, folding chairs were being set up facing a portable stage. It was May Day, the Socialist holiday. (Then, many Italians’ politics were pretty far left after il Duce’s far right autocracy.) We drove the hairpin turns from village to village, happy to be in the home of our ancestors. Thirty years later, I followed the same coastline from the sea side. Portofino had become a chic destination to dock one’s million dollar yacht. We visited the towns and villages Mr. Modak writes about. In Bogliasco we drank local wine and ate crisply fried sardines and basked in the soft light of the sunset. I’m glad to hear some of the Golfo’s charms remain.

I spent a few glorious days along this coast ten years ago - it was stunning. And the food! Any neighbourhood bar had pesto to die for. Thanks for the reminder of what remains a favourite travel memory.

It's too bad that there's a photo of pansotti above a tribute to focaccia! True pansott, a regional stuffed pasta specialty of a the Paradiso area, still needs to be made by hand to achieve the unique three-cornered hat shape.

Having just ending my vacation in Liguria it should be mentioned that the best olive oil like everybody knows comes from Italy of course, but the best in Italy comes from Liguria.

Very well done. Best insight - "more people are good than bad". Thanks.

Lovely. And yes to the beautiful people you meet traveling (a welcome change from stressed out NY/NYers!).

Seb needs his own tv show! His Instagram stories are the highlight of my day, as I travel around the world, tasting pizza and jumping in the water and dancing with the locals, while sitting in my family room.

We recently spent nine weeks, on our latest Italian excursion, exclusively in provinces less tourist frequented, One of those, based in Recco itself, occurred toward the end in early June. Thus we became somewhat familiar with the area on which Mr. Modak focuses this particular article. It was interesting to read this account of his experience in the area. Though pointing out this town was almost completely devastated by WWII bombings, it was a little offsetting to hear it framed as "Ugly Duckling". Nonetheless, the essential thrust of the piece celebrates the idea of yet another compelling aspect, one more unfamiliar, of Italy. It's taken over a cumulative year of travel life to give myself entirely over to that more intimate a focus. And it was fun recollecting that perspective, including memories of sampling from among Recco's top five -each specializing in foccacia - atop scores of town restaurants. The very best for us was enjoyed high above the sea - while sharing various samplings baked in our hosts' outdoor garden oven - accompanied by their surrounding vines' delightful white wine.