Savona sits on Italy's Ligurian coast, part of the Riviera delle Palme along the Gulf of Genoa, where a broadly south-facing shoreline picks up swell rolling in from the open Mediterranean. Surfing in Savona is a wind-swell affair: the best waves arrive when autumn and winter storms track across the Ligurian Sea and push energy toward this corner of the Riviera di Ponente. Outside those windows the sea can go quiet for long stretches, so timing the forecast matters more here than the number of breaks.
The two main setups sit in different towns and suit different surfers. Notable spots include Molo near Alassio, a sand-bottom beach break, and Varazze, an uneven reef that is one of the better-known waves on this coast. Molo is the friendlier of the pair, breaking on sand and coming alive from smaller swell, which makes it a reasonable beginner option on clean, modest days. Varazze is the intermediate call, a reef that needs a bit more size to show its shape and can hold considerably bigger surf.
Both draw from a wide southern window, favoring anything from the southeast through south to the southwest, with the beach also picking up a little more easterly angle. Offshore winds come from the north over the reef and the northwest over the beach, so a land breeze off the hills is what cleans the faces up. Tide is forgiving across both breaks, working through low, mid, and high, which widens your options once a swell is running.
For size, the beach starts working from around 2 ft and tops out near head-high, while the reef prefers 3 ft and up and can handle serious size when a strong system lines up. If you are learning, aim for the smaller days at the sandy beach break; if you want more push and a proper reef wave, watch for a bigger south swell and head to Varazze.
