Behind and high above Ospedaletti, Sanremo and Bordighera you’ll find a viewpoint so excessive it almost feels accidental — a vast sweep of scenery you’ll (almost) certainly have to yourself. Getting there, however, is another matter.
We’ve walked mountains in plenty of countries, and there’s always that quiet question: will the view pay for the effort? In Norway, it almost always does. In Austria, we’ve reached the end only to stare into dense treetops ten metres away — and the bears they warned us about never showed either.
We might as well say it upfront: this one pays in full. The view, the experience — all of it. And considering what waits at the top, the walk itself is on the easy side. You’ll feel it in your legs, and there’s a bit of climbing here and there, but nothing dramatic. Just enough to earn it.
We spend part of our time in our apartment in Ospedaletti — a small slice of something close to perfect, tucked between Sanremo and Bordighera on the Ligurian coast in northern Italy, in the stretch known as Riviera di Ponente. Naturally, we spend a fair amount of time exploring Valle Argentina — the mountains that sit behind the coastal towns, shaping both the landscape and the climate. It’s a particular kind of place.
Citrus trees in December in Ospedaletti
On this particular day, our main goal was the abandoned mid-station in San Romolo — once part of a cable car line that carried guests all the way from Sanremo on the coast up to Monte Bignone, a journey of more than 7 km. And when you’re already somewhere, you may as well look around. That’s how Monte Caggio entered the picture.
Read about our trip to the abandoned cable car in San Romolo
A spot out in the green on the map, no obvious roads leading there, but promising a view. That’s usually enough. It did, however, turn out to be slightly more complicated than expected. We couldn’t find a proper starting point and ended up driving back and forth on the surrounding roads before finally locating a way in. Likely our own fault — it seems you can simply park in San Romolo and start from there.
No need to repeat our mistake — we’ve already done that for you.
Eventually, we found the sign pointing towards Monte Caggio. It’s not exactly a crowded area — not in spring, at least — so parking along the road nearby is easy enough.
The route begins as a beautifully laid cobblestone path, winding up the mountainside between the trees like a patient serpent. Steep in places, but very manageable underfoot. It might get slippery in the rain — though that’s speculation rather than experience. For context, here’s what we wore on our feet.
Worth mentioning: we don’t own hiking boots or specialised gear. We tend to walk in whatever we happened to put on that day, which — admittedly — can result in the occasional complaint from our feet.
Once you’ve “conquered” the cobblestones, the path levels out into a gravel ridge where your legs get a brief reprieve before the climb resumes. And when it does, there are a few sections that ask a bit more of you — lifting your knees slightly higher than usual. Nothing dramatic, but enough to remind you that you’re moving upwards.
Up, up, up. That’s the final stretch. For a long time, there’s little to suggest you’re nearing anything at all — until you reach a radio mast and a simple wooden cross. For a brief moment we thought: “Really — this is it?”
It isn’t.
Fifty metres beyond, the small plateau appears — and with it, a view that feels almost excessive.
It takes your breath for a moment.
The day we went, a strong northern wind made the walk itself feel slightly more dramatic than necessary. Up on the plateau, though, there was nothing — complete stillness.
We sat on the rocks for a while, saying very little, just watching.
With the Madonna statue in the foreground, the view stretched from Saint-Tropez and Antibes across Ventimiglia and Bordighera to the mountains behind Ospedaletti and Sanremo — all framed by the blue of the Mediterranean.
Full return on the hour it took to get there.
As with most places like this, it’s hard to decide when you’ve had enough. But eventually you turn away — leave the view behind and head back into the forest, now with the wind pressing straight into your face. And as so often before, it turns out the descent — especially the steep parts — demands more than the climb.
About an hour after starting down, we were back at the car, rolling gently towards Coldirodi and on to our apartment in Ospedaletti. We parked, continued on foot into town, and ended the day the only sensible way — with an Aperol at Bar XX.
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