There is another Liguria, far from the sea and the familiar images of its coastline. A Liguria of woodlands, small villages, streams and roads winding deep into the countryside.
Calice al Cornoviglio lies in the province of La Spezia, in the heart of historical Lunigiana, between the Magra and Vara valleys. Its predominantly hilly and mountainous territory covers more than 34 square kilometers and rises to 1,162 meters at the summit of Monte Cornoviglio.
It is a place best explored without rushing, where small villages, woodlands and the landscape itself still tell the story of the relationship between people and their environment.
For us, Calice is something more: it is the land where we live, work and keep our bees.
A land of villages and woodlands
Calice al Cornoviglio is not centered around a single village. Its many hamlets and small settlements are scattered among valleys, ridges and woodlands, across an area that for centuries depended largely on farming and forestry.
As many cultivated areas were gradually abandoned, the woodland reclaimed its space. Chestnut groves, mixed forests, clearings and wild vegetation now form a landscape that changes continuously with the seasons.
Part of the municipality also lies within the Montemarcello-Magra-Vara Regional Natural Park, a protected area stretching from the coast and the Val di Magra to the green hills of the Val di Vara.
And it is precisely this environmental richness that makes the area particularly interesting for bees as well.
The Doria Malaspina Castle
Overlooking the village of Calice stands the Doria Malaspina Castle, one of the town’s most distinctive landmarks.
Its origins go back many centuries. Over time, the castle passed through the hands of several families and rulers, from the Malaspina to the Fieschi and later the Doria. Gradually losing its defensive role, it was transformed into a residence and, after the unification of Italy, also became the seat of the municipal administration, a function it retained until 1993.
Today, the castle houses several museum collections dedicated to the history, art and traditions of the local area.
A Beekeeping Museum inside the castle
Among these collections is one that inevitably feels particularly close to us: the Beekeeping Museum.
Created through the initiative of local beekeepers and housed in the castle’s former storerooms, it was the first museum dedicated to beekeeping to be established in Liguria. Its collection includes traditional beehives, tools once used to harvest and process honey, and objects illustrating the different stages of a beekeeper’s work.
Its presence tells us something important: the relationship between Calice and beekeeping did not begin in the present day.
The tools of the past speak of a craft that has changed profoundly over the years, yet some things have remained exactly the same. Even today, it is still the bees, the blossoms, the weather and the changing seasons that determine many of the rules.
For us, continuing to keep bees here today, this connection between past and present has a very special meaning.
A landscape that changes with the seasons
Visit this area at different times of year and each time you will encounter a different landscape.
Spring brings new blossoms and color returns to the meadows and woodland edges. In summer, the vegetation becomes lush and the bees reach one of the busiest periods of their year. Then autumn arrives, bringing the colors of chestnut groves and mixed woodland, before winter finally comes and the landscape seems to slow down.
It is a constant transformation, and one that also shapes our work.
Because what flowers, when it flowers and the weather conditions throughout the season inevitably influence what the bees are able to gather.
The land of our bees
Our hives are immersed in this environment, surrounded by woodland and wild blossoms.
We have chosen not to pursue individual blooms in order to produce monofloral honey. Instead, we prefer to let the bees, the season and the land determine what enters the hive.
That is why we consider honey not only a product of the bees, but also an expression of the place where it is made.
Every harvest carries something of the year that produced it: the blossoms that were available, the rainfall, the heat and the rhythm of the season. And that is precisely why its color, aroma, texture and flavour can change from one year to the next.
We explored this in more detail in our article Why honey changes every year
Discovering Calice also means discovering a little more about us
Telling the story of Calice al Cornoviglio inevitably means telling part of our own story too.
The woodlands, wild blossoms and landscape surrounding our hives are not simply the backdrop to our work: they are part of it.
Discovering Calice means traveling its roads, coming across the small villages scattered throughout the area, observing its woodlands, visiting the castle and discovering that inside its walls there is even a museum dedicated to the long tradition of beekeeping.
And perhaps it also means understanding a little better what we try to capture in every jar of our honey.