Cairo Montenotte is a municipality in the Province of Savona in the region of Liguria, located about 50 km west of the port Genova and about 20 km northwest of Savona. It had a population of approx 14.000. The name ‘Cairo’ comes from the Latin ‘carium’, which comes from the Ligurian word ‘car’, meaning ‘stone’. The town dates back to the Middle Ages and still boasts the ruin of a castle on top of the hill.
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Cairo Montenotte is a typical Italian town with a lively historic centre consisting of a pedestrian area with a nice church, numerous small shops (with delicious fresh food), restaurants and sidewalk cafés as well a weekly market on Thursday in the main square. Also you will find several banks with ATMs, a police station, a post office, a hospital and gas stations/garages. Outside the historic centre there are several supermarkets and other larger stores. In August the “Cairo Medievale”, a medieval festival attracts a lot of people to town with performances and food that remind us of the Middle Ages.
Places of interest:
The region is hilly and offers lovely panoramas of rolling hills, villages (usually with an historic centre and a ruin). There are several towns within a 1- 2 hour drive that merit a visit: Acqui Terme, Asti, Genova, Milano or Nice in France. The nearest town to Cairo on the coast is Savona which is a mere 25 minutes drive. Whether you follow the coast west in the direction of France or in the opposite direction to Genova, there is a delightful coastal road that takes you through a hosts of small villages which in the summer become bathing resorts primarily for Italians. These small and unspoiled communities typically have an historic center, small public beaches and extensive private beaches where you can hire a deck chair and a sunshade for two for € 10,- a person per day.