View source for Rapallo

{{About|the town|treaties signed here|Treaty of Rapallo (disambiguation){{!}}Treaty of Rapallo}}
{{refimprove|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                = Rapallo
| official_name       = Comune di Rapallo
| native_name         = 
| image_skyline       = Rapallo-IMG 0436.JPG
| imagesize           = 
| image_alt           = 
|image_flag=Flag of Rapallo.svg| image_caption       = The sea front and harbour of Rapallo
| image_shield        = Rapallo-Stemma-2.svg
| shield_alt          = 
| image_map           = 
| map_alt             = 
| map_caption         = 
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_alt     = 
| coordinates         = {{coord|44|21|N|09|14|E|region:IT|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| region              = [[Liguria]]
| metropolitan_city   = [[Metropolitan City of Genoa|Genoa]] (GE)
| frazioni            = Montepegli, San Martino di Noceto, San Massimo, San Maurizio di Monti, [[San Michele di Pagana]], San Pietro di Novella, San Quirico d'Assereto, Santa Maria del Campo, Sant'Andrea di Foggia, Santuario di Montallegro
| mayor_party         = 
| mayor               = Elisabetta Ricci
| area_footnotes      = 
| area_total_km2      = 33.61
| population_footnotes = <ref name="population">{{cite web|title=Resident population|url=https://demo.istat.it/app/?i=POS&l=en|publisher=[[Italian National Institute of Statistics|ISTAT]]}}</ref>
| population_total    = 29513
| population_as_of    = 2025
| population_demonym  = Rapallesi
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m         = 3
| twin1               = 
| twin1_country       = 
|istat=| saint               = Our Lady of Montallegro
| day                 = July 2
| postal_code         = 16035
| area_code           = 0185
| website             = {{official website|http://www.comune.rapallo.ge.it/}}
| footnotes           = 
}}'''Rapallo''' ({{IPAc-en|US|r|ə|ˈ|p|ɑː|l|oʊ}} {{respell|rə|PAH|loh}},<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Rapallo|access-date=30 July 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|it|raˈpallo|lang}}, {{IPA|lij|ɾaˈpalːu|lang}}) is a ''[[comune]]'' (municipality) in the [[Metropolitan City of Genoa]], in the region of [[Liguria]] in [[Italy]]. As of 2025, with a population 29,513, it is the [[List of municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Genoa|2nd-largest municipality in the metropolitan city]].<ref name="population" />

It lies on the [[Ligurian Sea]] coast, on the [[Tigullio]] Gulf, between [[Portofino]] and [[Chiavari]], 25 kilometers east-south east of [[Genoa]] itself.

The Parco Naturale Regionale di Portofino, encompassing the territory of six Ligurian communes, includes the Rapallo area.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

==History==
{{unref-section|date=October 2024}}
The first settlement dates probably from the 8th century BC, although the findings have not clarified if it was [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] or [[Megali Idea|Greek]].

The name of the city appears for the first time in a document from 964. In 1203, the [[Podestà]] of Rapallo was created, and the town became a Genoese dominion in 1229, remaining under that aegis until the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. Galleys from Rapallo took part to the [[Battle of Meloria (1284)|Battle of Meloria of 1284]]. On 5 September 1494, it was captured by the [[Aragon]]ese, but three days later 2,500 Swiss troops ousted them.

During the 16th century it was attacked and sacked by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]s and [[Barbary pirates]]. To help defend the village against such attacks a castle was built on the seafront. In 1608 Rapallo was made into a ''Capitaneato'' (captainship) of its own, as part of the [[Republic of Genoa]].

In the late 18th century it was captured by the French who, after several clashes against Austro-Russian troops, in 1805 annexed it to the [[Apennins]] region. In 1814, the English freed it, and the following year the city was given to the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]]-Piedmont as part of the Duchy of Genoa.

In late 1917 the Anglo-Franco-Italian [[Rapallo and Peschiera conferences|Rapallo conference]] met following the disastrous Italian defeat at [[battle of Caporetto|Caporetto]]. It was decided to create a supreme war council at Versailles and to shift some French and British troops to the Italian front. On 12 November 1920, Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia) signed the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)]], which resolved the frontier issues between them without reference to the other Allies. Italy acquired the strategically important crest of the Julian Alps as its boundary in the northeast. Also concluded at Rapallo was the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1922)|Russian-German Treaty]] of Rapallo of April 1922, in which both countries renounced claims to war reparations and renewed diplomatic relations. This agreement marked the emergence of Russia and Germany from the diplomatic isolation caused by World War I (1914&ndash;18).

During [[World War II]] numerous partisans from Rapallo were shot by German occupation troops.

Rapallo has been known for its climate that made it over the years the winter residence of preference for most of the affluent Italians living in the North West of Italy. Its proximity to the coast makes for mild winters where people can enjoy easy strolls on the sunny promenade and the golfers can enjoy one of the oldest courses in Italy, opened in 1930.

== Demographics ==
As of 2025, Savona has a population of 29,513, of whom 47.9% are male and 52.1% are female. Minors make up 13.1% of the population, and seniors make up 29.0%, compared to the Italian average of 14.9% and 24.7% respectively.<ref name="population" />

{{Historical populations|1861|10491|1871|11112|1881|9940|1901|10137|1911|11271|1921|12287|1931|13420|1936|13947|1951|15639|1961|20606|1971|26713|1981|29547|1991|27370|2001|29159|2011|29226|2021|29107|cols=2|align=none|source=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Popolazione residente dei comuni. Censimenti dal 1861 al 1991|trans-title=Resident population of the municipalities. Censuses from 1861 to 1991|url=https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/Censimentipopolazioneresidentedal1861/RML0050288Pop_res_cens_1861_1991.pdf|lang=it|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]}}</ref><ref name="timeseries">{{cite web |title=Dashboard Permanent census of population and housing|url=https://esploradati.censimentopopolazione.istat.it/databrowser/#/en/censtest/dashboards|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]}}</ref>}}

=== Foreign population ===
As of 2024, the foreign-born population is 4,961, equal to 16.8% of the population. The 5 largest foreign nationalities are [[Albanians]] (1,063), [[Romanians]] (436), [[Ecuadorians]] (350), [[Egyptians]] (301) and [[Ukrainians]] (225).<ref name="foreignborn">{{cite web |title=Resident population by sex, municipality and citizenship |url=https://demo.istat.it/app/?i=RCS&a=2024&l=en |publisher=[[Italian National Institute of Statistics|ISTAT]]}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+Foreign population by country of birth (2024)<ref name="foreignborn" />
!Country of birth
!Population
|-
|{{flag|Albania}}
|1,063
|-
|{{flag|Romania}}
|436
|-
|{{flag|Ecuador}}
|350
|-
|{{flag|Egypt}}
|301
|-
|{{flag|Ukraine}}
|225
|-
|{{flag|Morocco}}
|223
|-
|{{flag|Moldova}}
|218
|-
|{{flag|Sri Lanka}}
|176
|-
|{{flag|Bangladesh}}
|146
|-
|{{flag|Chile}}
|139
|-
|{{flag|China}}
|126
|-
|{{flag|Tunisia}}
|110
|-
|{{flag|Brazil}}
|100
|-
|{{flag|Russia}}
|95
|-
|{{flag|Peru}}
|88
|}

==Main sights==
[[File:Rapallo Chiesa Anglicana St.George.jpg|thumb|The former English church in Rapallo, St George's Church]]
[[File:Santuario di Montallegro-facciata.JPG|thumb|Sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Montallegro]]
[[File:Campanile-cupola-vista da piazza cavour.png|thumb|Bell tower and dome of the basilica of San Gervasio e Protasio]][[File:Rapallo Castle.jpg|thumb|The castle at Rapallo from the gulf]]
* The Castello sul Mare (Castle-on-the-Sea), erected in 1551 to counter the frequent pirate attacks. It includes a small chapel dedicated to St. Cajetan, built in 1688.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rapallo Castle, Rapallo, Italy - SpottingHistory |url=https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/9681/rapallo-castle/ |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=www.spottinghistory.com |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Castello di Punta Pagana]] is a seat of the [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta]]. It was finished on 28 July 1631.

== Events ==
On the first three days of July, each year Rapallo celebrates the apparition of Our Lady of Montallegro, said to have taken place on 2 July 1557, with fireworks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=July festivities – Hello Rapallo |url=https://hellorapallo.it/en/my-rapallo/rapallo-in-celebration/july-festivities/#:~:text=On%20the%20first,%20second%20and,until%20late%20into%20the%20night. |access-date=2024-10-22 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Transport==
[[Rapallo railway station]], opened in 1868, forms part of the [[Genoa–Pisa railway|Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa railway]].

==Literature==
{{unref-section|date=October 2024}}
[[File:Daphne vid ankomsten till Rapallo 1948 SLSA 1150 10956.jpg|thumb|[[Göran Schildt|Göran Schildt's]] ketch Daphne arriving in Rapallo in 1948]]
Nobel laureate [[Eugenio Montale]] wrote a poem entitled "Caffe a Rapallo", published in his early collection Ossi di Seppia (Cuttlefish Bones).

[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] wrote ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' in Rapallo between December 1882 and February 1883.

The author, [[Caricature|caricaturist]] and [[Parody|parodist]] [[Max Beerbohm]] lived in Rapallo from 1910 until his death in 1956, returning to Britain during [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. 

The American [[War poetry|war poet]] [[John Allan Wyeth (poet)|John Allan Wyeth]] lived in Rapallo during the 1920s and early '30s.

The theatre designer and artist [[Edward Gordon Craig|Gordon Craig]] lived in Villa Raggio, next door to Beerbohm, from 1917 to 1928.

Rapallo is the setting for most of [[Elmore Leonard]]'s crime novel ''[[Pronto (novel)|Pronto]]''.

The American poet [[Robert Lowell]] published the poem "Sailing Home From Rapallo" in his influential 1959 book ''Life Studies''. The poem is about Lowell's journey from Rapallo back to the United States by ship with the body of his deceased mother who died in Rapallo on vacation in 1954.

==Notable people==
* The polymath [[Fortunio Liceti]] was born in Rapallo in 1577.
* [[Cornelia Armsby|Cornelia Wicker Armsby]], an American golfer and socialite, died at Rapallo in 1969.
* [[Max Beerbohm]], the [[Caricature|caricaturist]] and essayist, lived in Rapallo from 1910 until his death in 1956, with the exception of the two World Wars.
* [[Domingo Ghirardelli]], founder of the [[Ghirardelli Chocolate Company]] was born in Rapallo in 1817 and also died there while visiting in 1894.
* Sir [[Edmund Grimani Hornby]], former Chief Judge of the British Supreme Consular Court at [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] and [[British Supreme Court for China|British Supreme Court for China and Japan]] died in Rapallo in 1896 and was buried there.<ref>Hornby, An Autobiography, Introduction by Constance Drummond (nee Hornby)</ref>
* The poet [[Ezra Pound]] lived in Rapallo between the years 1924 and 1945, and part-time from 1959 to 1972, and wrote much of his ''[[The Cantos|Cantos]]'' there. His father, Homer Pound, is buried in the non-Catholic section of Cimitero Urbano on Via Cerisola.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bacigalupo |first=Massimo |date=2008 |title=Tigullio Itineraries: Ezra Pound and Friends |url=https://www.academia.edu/6420845 |website=Academia edu}}</ref>
* Sir [[Charles Hercules Read]], British archaeologist and curator, died in Rapallo in 1929 and is buried in the non-Catholic section of Cimitero Urbano.
* The Finnish composer [[Jean Sibelius]] stayed with his family in Rapallo in 1901, where he conceived ideas for his [[Symphony No. 2 (Sibelius)|Symphony No. 2]].
* [[Alexandra Zazzi]], Swedish-Italian chef and television personality, was born in 1966 and grew up in Rapallo.
* The artists [[Wassily Kandinsky]] and [[Gabriele Münter]] had an extended stay in Rapallo in 1905, where Münter produced some twenty paintings.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Gabriele Munter: 9783791379845 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books | url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/570227/gabriele-munter-by-isabelle-jansen/ | access-date=2025-02-16 | website=www.penguinrandomhouse.com}}</ref>
* The American actress [[Dorothy Gish]] stayed at a clinic in Rapallo for two years and died there in 1968.

===Honorary citizens===
Among the recipients of the [[honorary citizenship]] of Rapallo are:

{| class="wikitable" width="70%" style="font-size: 85%; border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: middle;"
! style="text-align: left;background:#B0C4DE"|Date
! width="240" style="text-align: left;background:#B0C4DE"|Name
! style="text-align: left;background:#B0C4DE"|Notes
|-
||1992||[[Andrew Bertie]] || [[List of Grand Masters of the Knights Hospitaller|78th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller]] 1988–2008<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.orderofmalta-federal.org/the-cause-for-the-beatification-of-fra-andrew-bertie-will-open-on-20-february-in-rome?journal=26|title = The Order of Malta Federal Association, USA is a lay religious order of the Catholic Church}}</ref>
|-
||18 September 2008||[[Matthew Festing]] || [[List of Grand Masters of the Knights Hospitaller|79th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller]] 2008–2017<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.orderofmalta.int/news/40858/the-grand-master-honorary-citizen-of-rapallo/?lang=en |title=THE GRAND MASTER HONORARY CITIZEN OF RAPALLO » Sovereign Order of Malta – Official site |access-date=2015-11-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208142025/http://www.orderofmalta.int/news/40858/the-grand-master-honorary-citizen-of-rapallo/?lang=en |archive-date=2015-12-08 }}</ref>
|}

==International relations==

===Twin towns — sister cities===
Rapallo is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:
* {{flagicon|Chile}} [[Iquique]], Chile

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.parcoportofino.it Parco Naturale Regionale di Portofino] {{in lang|it}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051025162928/http://www.5terre.com/FrameSet.php?LeftPriMenu=004&LeftSecMenu=001&LeftFile=003%2F001.htm Information about Rapallo]

{{Province of Genoa}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Rapallo| ]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Liguria]]
[[Category:Coastal towns in Liguria]]
[[Category:Italian Riviera]]