The Italian Riviera, a thin, vertical coast of pastel villages, palm-lined promenades, and the yacht-filled harbour of Portofino. A Liguria wedding is chic and intimate rather than grand, built on painted harbours and clifftop gardens, and it rewards a smaller guest list on a coast where flat ground and easy access are both in short supply.
Italy recognises civil unions, not same-sex marriage, so a same-sex wedding in Liguria is a symbolic ceremony, and couples make the legal marriage at home or in a marriage-equality country (nearby Spain or Portugal are common). Opposite-sex couples can hold a legally binding civil marriage here. Either way, the celebration is yours; only the paperwork has a postcode.
It is an intimate coast rather than a grand one. There is very little flat ground on the Riviera, so weddings happen in small numbers, on the terraces of Portofino, in clifftop gardens above the sea, or in one of the pastel harbours strung along the shore. Portofino brings yacht-harbour glamour and prices to match, while the Cinque Terre villages are more rugged and, being largely car-free, ask real thought about how guests actually arrive. It is chic, vertical, and best kept small.
Three corners of the region pull in slightly different directions. None is more correct than another; they are simply moods. The three below are the ones worth knowing first.
We are mapping Liguria sub-area by sub-area, from Portofino to the Cinque Terre to Genoa. Be first as each one opens, with the honest legal notes that come with it.
The quiz reads your taste and points you to the regions, and the kind of ceremony, that fit you.