Bed and Breakfast in Apricale, Liguria, Italy

There are 5 very comfortable rooms, each with its own theme, decorated with a great eye for detail. They all have a beautiful view, telephone, mini bar, air conditioning, satelite TV, king size beds and a en-suite bath-or showerroom with bidet, toilet and sink. ‘The Sweet’ has a hydromassage bath. A spiral staircase leads from the reception to a tastefully furnished and decorated room. This room used to be a stable, it now has a fire place and it’s a great place to read or just simply relax. From this room there are French open windows that open to onto a big terrace a favourite spot for summer breakfast and relaxation.

We love art. We have used as much ‘real art’ as possible. This is also thanks to Danièlle Noël from the famous hotel ‘Colombe d’Ôr’ in St. Paul de Vence. She has managed to convince Folon to paint our Apricus sign. Thank you Daniëlle.

THE GARDEN has a vegetable garden, a big terrace covered by vines and many more terraces with flowers and fruit trees. A path leads down to the river with its beautiful roman bridge and aquaduct.

APRICALE
Apricale is conveniently located right on the border with the Côte d’Azur. The nearest airport is Nice (France) wich is a 1 hour drive away. Alternatively, fly to Genoa (Italy), which is a 2,5 hour drive away.

The village is extra special because it retained its very old character. Parts of the ‘centro storico’ date back to 1200. The narrow cobblestoned, partly covered streets are for pedestrians only. Except for a few ‘Ape’s’ (three-wheelers) that are used to supply the shops and restaurants and bring up building materials. Due to the fact that there are no cars, there is a real peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. The book ‘Extra Virgin’ written by Annie Hawes describes a very similar village atmosphere.

Apricale is 297 meters above sea level and is surrounded by green hills, lots of them with olive groves, a very important crop for the villagers. The 550 inhabitans are very proud of their village and organize a lot of events.There are dance evenings under the stars in the beautiful piazza, concerts in the castello and art exhibitions of Miro, Picasso to mention but a few.

Valentines day, becomes Valentines week in Apricale! The whole village is decorated with red harts, the restaurants have special romantic menu’s and actors and dancers go around all restaurants and recite poetry, do a bit of belly dancing of whatever is on the program for that year. A big bonfire is lit in the square, it doesn’t get much more romantic than that. Great fun even if you don’t speak Italian.

August is theatre month. ‘ Teatro delle Tosse’ from Genoa uses Apricale as its open air stage for 10 Days. The medieval square is filled with spectators enjoying the fairytale like atmosphere and beautiful costumes.

‘Festa della Pansarole’ is in the beginning of September. This is a speciality from Apricale and is a sweet that has the consistency of a doughnut if you had to try and describe it. To make this, pastry gets rolled and cut and then deep fried in the world largest frying pan! This is served with Zabaglione. Not a day to be counting calories.

Christmas is lovely in Apricale. The whole village is decorated and a big fire is lit Christmas Eve which is kept alight 24 hrs a day until the 6th of January. The last person to pass trough the square at night puts on a log and the first one in the morning does the same. People getter around to talk, sing or enjoy a glass of mulled wine.