a common painted Levanto street facade

…is the Ligurian beach town where my friend, and before that her her mother, grew up spending summers in a cute yellow house on the main street of town which her grandparents bought decades ago, and here is what we like about this place: almost all of the buildings have elaborate hand-painted trompe-l’oeil architectural details covering the street facades; the place is a hot sunny ghost town during the afternoon siesta from about 1-4pm when people smartly retreat to interior shade or cool sea water; the global tourists are distracted by the drama of nearby Cinque Terre and don’t seem to make it this far so you only tend to hear Italian spoken in these parts; the beach is a scene for all ages from the babies, to the teenagers, to the parents, and the elderly, though they mostly seem content to gather on benches in the park and watch the people walk by; there is a new walking path on the old train line which allows you to walk to actually walk through tunnels to the neighboring towns through a rugged coastal landscape; and hey, the Agnelli family has a villa (and fancy gardens which can be viewed through gates) here just on the edge of town, so I guess that says something. (more on wikipedia)