No cars, few tourists, and a hill town that sits in a valley surrounded by tall forested mountains, that is Apricale Italy.
We stumbled onto this area of Italy after viewing photos on Google Earth and decided to go there. It is completely off the radar for Americans, although the area is popular with French tourists. It is located very near the French border, about 7 miles north of the coast. This beautiful village is virtually unchanged since medieval times. The streets are very narrow, and are often cave like alleys, accessible on only foot. Parking is below the village. The main piazza is fascinating. It's quite large for a small village and is surrounded by the church and municipal buildings. There are at least 3 very good restaurant in the piazza and general area. The village will sponsor live music on the weekends in the summer and all of the locals come out. It's a real family scene. Another restaurant, La Favorita, is located just outside the village and is excellent!
Apricale is very quiet. As I mentioned, the town sits on a hill in the forest. At night the only sounds are frogs. Loud noises carry a long ways here. In the evening we enjoyed sitting in the piazza and gazing up at the lights of the even higher hilltown of Perinaldo. But for me the most amazing thing of all about Apricale was walking it's deserted alleys at night. Very very spooky!
Other than to poke around the village, there's not much to do. However the village makes a great base for discovering the other nearby villages. Just in the general area are Dolceaqua, which I mentioned before, with it's devils bridge and castle ruins, Rochetta Nervina which has world class canyoning in it's mountain stream, and Triora, another spooky place, that is famous for it's witch burnings in medieval times. There are also the well worthwhile villages of Isolabuona, Pigna, Castel Vittorio, and others.
An hour drive away is the much larger and much more touristy Sanremo, with it's beautiful old section and great restaurants. Just north of Sanremo is the hippy colony of Bussana Vecchia. This hilltown was condemned by the government after an earthquake. All of it's residents were forced to leave. It sat deserted for decades. Then in the 1970's hippies and artists squatted there. It has been a counter-culture artist colony ever since, and it's now very popular with daytripping tourists. The road to it is rough since the government refuses to maintain it. Beware, but it is worth a visit. This area of Italy also produces world class olive oil. Some say the best there is. We traveled to Baddalucco (near Sanremo) just to purchase the highly recommended Roi Olive Oil.
Drawbacks to staying in Apricale include a small grocery store with limited hours, no bakery that I could discover, plenty of cat & dog poop here and there, and it is a vigorous walk up from the parking areas. A car is required for this area of Liguria as bus service is limited. Accommodations are also limited. There are a couple of B&B's and a handfull of apartamenti. No hotels. Many people stay in nearby Dolceaqua, which is larger and is every bit as fascinating, and daytrip to Apricale.
We stayed for 4 nights in late June of 2014 and found our apartamento through "Holiday Lettings". Prices are very reasonable.