Spotti Cafe, Alassio. February 2019
It was late February on the Ligurian coast so I really couldn't hope for balmy weather. Based in Genoa I was taking trips north and south of the city according to the changing weather. The "old" Italian riviera stretched from the French border into Italy and that section of coast was loaded with faded resorts. In researching which of the many small coastal towns to visit I came across a woman's blog who had fallen in love with Alassio. No one else had written much about it, so I thought I might end up finding a diamond in the sand of shores once glamorous.
At nearly a two-hour ride from Genoa, almost to the French border, I was ready to get off the train. At least it was sunny, even if it was windy and cold. The train station fronted on a lovely little town park and square. I contemplated a coffee there, but it was windy and brisk and no place looked particularly inviting. I walked down toward the sea a block away and found a narrow street paralleling the water that was lined with restaurants and cafes. I hesitated because it was the waterfront, but it was late morning - how expensive could it be? I picked a cafe at random, Spotti, and walked a long corridor to the back of the building that faced on the sea. It seemed that all the restaurants were long and narrow with just one or two windows on the Mediterranean. Being February the place was empty and I took a coveted seat right by the window and ordered a latte macchiato. I was happy to be looking out on the sea yet warm behind the protective glass. The restaurant was not much higher than the sand, so the effect was almost like sitting on the beach. It was a glorious coffee indeed. I was sure that any other time of year (or day) I could never have scored that primo table only for a coffee.
I explored Alassio, but it fell flat. Nice beach, but not much else. It must have a "scene" in the summer, but off-season it was just a wide stretch of beach with typical, modern Italian buildings along the sea. I wondered how a lot of the seaside businesses survived any kind of storms on the Mediterranean and the subsequent high surf. A lot of the buildings in the older part of the city especially were built right up to the high-tide mark (like Spotti). The maintenance must have been relentless.
Having scored a fantastic morning coffee I felt happy even if Alassio was not like the woman's blog described. Nothing was particularly wrong with Alassio, but nothing was particularly special about it either. I walked back to the train station to travel literally one or two stops to Albenga, a town with an intact medieval center. I hoped it would not disappoint.
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