From the sea front, where the Passeggiata Morin promenade) joins the Molo Italia quay opening onto the sea, you get to Piazza Europa, dominated by the Cristo Re dei Secoli (Christ the Everlasting King) cathedral. It was designed by Adalberto Libera and completed in 1975. At the back of the square on the left we see the imposing Palazzo del Governo (Palace of Government), built when La Spezia became capital of the new province in 1923; in front of this on Via Veneto is the bizarre building known as “The Skyscraper”, the work of Raffaello Bibbiani and Giorgio Guidugli. These are excellent examples of the interwar architecture of La Spezia . In the nearby Piazza Verdi stands the Post Office designed in 1933 by Angiolo Mazzoni, and inside the tower you can see the breathtaking mosaic depicting Land, Sea and Air Communications, by Fillia and Prampolini. From one side of this square you enter the old town, quickly reaching Piazza Sant’Agostino; from the other side you can continue along via Chiodo. On the sea side of this street, set back from the others, is the striking building of the Carispezia-Crédit Agricole Bank Foundation, built around 1845 by the architect Felice Orsolino. The next stretch of Via Chiodo opens onto the Gardens facing the sea, where in the so-called “Boschetto” (“Little Wood”) you see the bandstand purchased at the Universal Exhibition in Turin in 1866. Further up on the right is Via Prione, which cuts through the old town; still further up is Corso Cavour, an elegant, clearly 19^th-century-style street. Keep walking and you will get to Piazza Beverini, where you see the church of Santa Maria Assunta (Our Lady of the Assumption), and then the square which is animated each morning by the food market.

From the bottom of Via Chiodo, with the Gardens with Antonio Garella’s monument to Garibaldi on your left, you reach Piazza Chiodo, with its view onto the main façade of the Military Arsenal. In the middle of this square is the monument to Domenico Chiodo, the creator and promoter of the Arsenal. The monument is by Santo Varni; it was completed in 1874 and put into place here in 1878. Next to the Main Gate of the Arsenal you see the entrance to the Technical Naval Museum of the Military Navy.

Piazza Chiodo is just a few steps away from Piazza Cesare Battisti, the site of the CAMeC Centre of Modern and Contemporary Art, which hosts temporary exhibitions, conferences and seminars on the contemporary art scene.