Cavi Sestri Open Water Swimming

Before rounding Punta Manara into the open waters of the Ligurian Sea, swimmers gather at the Baia del Silenzio. The Cavi Sestri Open Water Swimming is an open water swimming event held in the sea at Sestri Levante, along the Italian Riviera in Liguria.

The Cavi Sestri crossing: courses, sanctuary waters, and May conditions

Held in late May, the race offers courses of 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters along the coastal waters. Swimmers push out from the enclosed calm of the Baia del Silenzio into the open sea, tracking along the dramatic promontory of Punta Manara and skimming the edges of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals before cutting back to the bay. Moving out, you feel the transition from smooth shallows into deep, open sea swell where long strokes find a steady rhythm. Along the route, clear marker buoys plot the line through the blue, flanked closely by canoes, rowing craft, and motorized support boats to keep every swimmer in view. Swimmers have described the course as demanding, especially when rolling waves reduce sighting against the distant shoreline. In heavy weather, safety officials can move the event into the more sheltered Baia delle Favole or cancel the race under the direction of the Port Authority, Civil Protection, and race referees.

The double bay of Sestri Levante and alluvial sands

The race unfolds within the wider Gulf of Tigullio, an inlet of the Riviera di Levante whose name traces back to the ancient Ligurian Tigullii tribe. Looking back toward shore from the water, the town center sits upon an unusual landform: what was once an isolated rocky island in antiquity was gradually tied to the mainland over centuries by sediment deposits washed down by the Petronio and Gromolo torrents. This isthmus created two natural harbors. The race begins at the Baia del Silenzio, alongside the Baia delle Favole.

Punta Manara headland: Mediterranean scrub and coastal towers

Once clear of the starting bay, swimmers skirt the sheer cliffs of Punta Manara, a protected headland that covers about 190 hectares and has been under environmental safeguards since 1977. High above the swimmer's line of sight, the promontory rises up to the 265-meter crest of Monte Castello, clad in dense holm oak woodland that harbors protected European arthropod species and gathers rainfall into the northern ravine of the Rio Ravino stream. Centuries of coastal defense remain etched into the cliffs. A solitary stone watchtower sits 140 meters above sea level, originally erected as an early-warning lookout against Saracen pirate raids, alongside remnants of an ancient fortress and observation posts built during World War II.

Naval raids, maritime cloisters, and the Riva Trigoso shipyards

In 1133 the powerful Fieschi counts struck into the Gulf of Tigullio, followed in 1145 by the Republic of Genoa taking control of the monastic abbey of San Colombano and converting it into a defensive castle. By 1170, a war flotilla from Pisa sailed in to besiege Sestri Levante, though the coastal settlement successfully beat off the assault. At the far eastern tip of the peninsula, jutting out above the sea on three sides, stands the former Convento dell'Annunziata, which in 1867 was converted into a seaside marine colony for children that operated through the late twentieth century. Just two kilometers south across the ridge, the industrial shipyard of Riva Trigoso built the luxury transatlantic ocean liner SS Principessa Jolanda, which suffered an infamous launch disaster on September 22, 1907, rolling onto her side in the shallows right off the slipway with only her funnels showing above the waves. Shipbuilders learned from the catastrophe, successfully launching her sister liner SS Principessa Mafalda the following year without her upper works to guarantee stability.

The long shingle shoreline from Cavi di Lavagna to Sestri

Northwest of the race area, the coastal shore unfurls along the longest continuous beach in the Riviera di Levante, extending for roughly three and a half kilometers with a promenade between Lavagna and Cavi. The beach at Cavi di Lavagna combines gray shingles and coarse sand, giving way to a gently shelving sea floor that makes for easy swimming and recovery swims. Originally a tiny fishing cluster named either for nearby slate quarries or rocky capes, Cavi di Lavagna developed into a relaxed coastal village whose clean bathing waters have earned repeated Blue Flag environmental certifications. A level pedestrian and cycle path connects the beaches directly back to Sestri Levante, tracing the edge of the surf. The town's maritime community gathers for traditions like the Barcarolata, filling the Bay of Silence with a flotilla of colorfully decorated boats drifting on the calm sea.