Arenzano (local lij, Rensën) is a coastal town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Metropolitan City of Genoa The Metropolitan City of Genoa ( it, Città Metropolitana di Genova) is one of the fourteen Metropolitan cities of Italy, located in the region of Liguria. Its capital is the city of Genoa. It replaced the Province of Genoa. History It was first ...

Liguria it, Ligure , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, facing the

Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea ( it, Mar Ligure; french: Mer Ligurienne; lij, Mâ Ligure) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient ...

. , it has a population of 11,445. This varies during the holiday seasons due to tourist flow. There are a number of festivals during the summer. The town is home to many of the employees of the nearby architectural firm of

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...

Geography

Arenzano is located in the

Riviera di Ponente The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( it, Riviera ligure; lij, Rivêa lìgure) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinall ...

section of the

Italian Riviera The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( it, Riviera ligure; lij, Rivêa lìgure) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinall ...

, within a bay formed by the Capo San Martino not far from the metropolitan capital of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. Part of the municipality territory, which is mountainous by grossly two thirds, is within the boundaries of the

Parco naturale regionale del Beigua The Beigua Natural Regional Park (in Italian ''Parco naturale regionale del Beigua'') is a natural park located in province of Savona and the Metropolitan City of Genoa, both in Liguria (Italy). It's the largest protected area of the region. It g ...

. The vast majority of the town's territory extends in the mountain range of the Beigua Regional Park with peaks above 1000 m above sea level. Arenzano's major rivers are: * Lerone (natural boundary between Arenzano and Cogoleto) * Cantarena * Lissolo

History

According to historical sources, the first residential settlement was linked to a primitive settlement of the Roman Empire in the first centuries after Christ. The ancient toponym of the municipality, Arentianis, would go back to a property or possession of the Arentii Ligurian family. As well as the nearby towns and villages, it followed the historical vicissitudes of nearby Genoa in the early medieval period, and therefore in the Middle Ages.

Main sights

* Sanctuary of the Infant Jesus of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. * The 18th-century parish church. * Villa Negrotto Cambiaso, a Genoese patrician villa built in the 16th century. It is now the town hall. It has a beautiful park, endowed with rare trees like

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

cedars and Araucarias. * The ''

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

s' Tower'' (16th century), built to prevent sudden incursions of pirates from

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

. * Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Olivette.

Twin towns

Loutraki Loutraki ( el, Λουτράκι) is a seaside resort on the Gulf of Corinth, in Corinthia, Greece. It is located west of Athens and northeast of Corinth. Loutraki is the seat of the municipality Loutraki-Perachora-Agioi Theodoroi. The tow ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, since 1957 *

Pontoise Pontoise () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''dép ...

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, since 1958 *

Domburg Domburg is a seaside resort on the North Sea, on the northwest coast of Walcheren in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Veere, and lies about 11 km northwest of the city of Middelburg, the provincial capital ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, since 1958 *

El Jadida El Jadida (, ; originally known in Berber as Maziɣen or Mazighen; known in Portuguese as Mazagão) is a major port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, located 96 km south of the city of Casablanca, in the province of El Jadida and the ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

, since 1964 * Tata,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, since 1994

References

Cities and towns in Liguria {{Liguria-geo-stub