La Spezia in the context of "Levanto, Liguria"

The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera (Italian: Riviera ligure [riˈvjɛːra ˈliːɡure]; Ligurian: Rivêa lìgure [ɾiˈveːa ˈliɡyɾe]) 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. Longitudinally it extends from the border with France and the French Riviera (or Côte d'Azur) near Ventimiglia (a former customs post) eastwards to Capo Corvo (also known as Punta Bianca) which marks the eastern end of the Gulf of La Spezia and is close to the regional border between Liguria and Tuscany. The Italian Riviera thus includes nearly all of the coastline of Liguria. Historically the "Riviera" extended further to the west, through what is now French territory as far as Marseille.

The Italian Riviera crosses all four Ligurian provinces and their capitals Genoa, Savona, Imperia and La Spezia, with a total length of about 350 km (218 miles). It is customarily divided into a western section, the Ponente Riviera, and an eastern section, the Levante Riviera, the point of division being the apex of the Ligurian arc at Voltri. It has about 1.6 million inhabitants, and most of the population is concentrated within the coastal area. Its mild climate draws an active tourist trade in the numerous coastal resorts, which include Alassio, Bonassola, Bordighera, Camogli, Cinque Terre, Lerici, Levanto, Noli, Portofino, Porto Venere, Santa Margherita Ligure, Sanremo, San Fruttuoso, and Sestri Levante. It is also known for its historical association with international celebrity and artistic visitors; writers and poets like Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway were inspired by the beauty and spirit of Liguria.

The Gulf of Genoa (Golfo di Genova) is the northernmost part of the Ligurian Sea. This Italian gulf is about 145 km (90 mi) wide from the city of Imperia in the west to La Spezia in the east. The largest city on its coast is Genoa, which has an important port.

The Gulf of La Spezia (Italian: Golfo della Spezia; Ligurian: Gorfo da Spezza), nicknamed the Gulf of Poets (Italian: Golfo dei Poeti; Ligurian: Gorfo di Poêti), is a body of water on the north-western coast of Italy and part of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, specifically of Ligurian Sea. It measures some 4.5 (length) by 3-3.5 (width) kilometers.

The gulf is named for the Italian city of La Spezia, located at its middle point, which is also the main military and cargo port in the gulf, including several arsenals of the Italian Marina Militare. At the gulf extremities are the two tourist resorts of Lerici (eastern) and Porto Venere (western).

Bonassola (Ligurian: Bonasseua [bunaˈsøːa]) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of Genoa and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of La Spezia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 945 and an area of 9.3 square kilometres (3.6 sq mi).

The municipality of Bonassola contains the frazioni (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Montaretto, Costella, Serra, Scernio, and San Giorgio.

Lerici (Ligurian: Lerxi, locally Lerze) is a comune in the province of La Spezia, in the Italian region of Liguria, part of the Italian Riviera. It is situated on the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia, 8 kilometres (5 mi) southeast of La Spezia. It is known as the place where the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned. The town is connected by ferry to the Cinque Terre and Porto Venere.

One of the main sights of Lerici is its castle which since its first founding in 1152 was used to help control the entrance of the Gulf of La Spezia. For a long time, the castle contained a museum of palaeontology inspired by a local lad (Walter) finding dinosaur bones in the region.

In the linguistics of the Romance languages, the La Spezia–Rimini Line, also known as the Massa–Senigallia Line, is a line that demarcates a number of important isoglosses that distinguish Romance languages south and east of the line from Romance languages north and west of it. The line divides northern and central Italy, running approximately between the cities of La Spezia and Rimini (or, according to some linguists, between Massa and Senigallia, which lie about 40 kilometres further to the south). Romance languages south and east of it include Italian and the Eastern Romance languages (Romanian, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian), whereas Catalan, French, Occitan, Portuguese, Romansh, Spanish, and the Gallo‒Italic languages are representatives of the Western group. In this classification, the Sardinian language is not part of either Western or Eastern Romance.

It has been suggested that the origin of these developments is to be found during the last decades of the Western Roman Empire and the Ostrogothic Kingdom (c. 395–535 AD). During this period, the area of Italy north of the line was dominated by an increasingly Germanic Roman army of (northern) Italy, followed by the Ostrogoths; the Roman Senate and Papacy became the dominant social elements south of the line. As for the provinces outside Italy, the social influences in Gaul and Iberia were broadly similar to those in northern Italy, whereas the Balkans were dominated by the Byzantine Empire at this time (and later, by Slavic peoples). In either case, it coincides approximately with the northern range of the Apennine Mountains, which could have helped the development of these linguistic differences.

Santo Stefano di Magra (Ligurian: San Steva, Lunigiano Emilian: Sa' Steu) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) southeast of Genoa and about 11 kilometres (7 mi) northeast of La Spezia. It is located near the confluence of torrent Vara into the Magra river. It is part of the Montemarcello-Magra Natural Regional Park. It has an entrance and exit to the toll-paying "Autostrada"

The municipality of Santo Stefano di Magra contains the frazioni (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Ponzano Magra, Ponzano Belaso, and Ponzano Superiore.

Vezzano Ligure (Italian: [vetˈtsaːno ˈliːɡure]; Ligurian: Vessan, locally V'zan) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region of Liguria, located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) southeast of Genoa and about 7 kilometres (4 mi) northeast of La Spezia.

Vezzano Ligure borders the following municipalities: Arcola, Bolano, Follo, La Spezia, Santo Stefano di Magra, Sarzana.