Cervo, a square above the sea.

The Riviera is usually read horizontally: coastline, road, railway, the next town. Cervo offers a reason to look up. Above the sea, its streets gather around the Corallini church and a terrace that makes an unusually persuasive argument for stopping.

Italy’s national tourism portal connects the church with the wealth of coral-fishing businesses working off Corsica and Sardinia. The building is evidence of a much wider maritime world. Read it that way and the square becomes more than a photogenic viewpoint: it is a record of where local livelihoods once led.

The summer chamber-music festival adds another layer to the setting. Our suggestion is to build a visit around the town itself, then check the programme if music is part of the plan. A summer cultural calendar should never be mistaken for a promise that a concert will be happening on an arbitrary evening.

Give the climb some time. A short walk that ends in the same square can be a perfectly complete visit. Cervo’s appeal, for this journal, is the way architecture, work and the sea remain legible together; there is no need to turn it into a checklist.