Conferences for up to 100 people, gala dinners for up to 150 and weddings with civil ceremonies can be organised at Villa Durazzo, a 17th-century villa with a three-hectare park above the Gulf of Tigullio in Santa Margherita Ligure. Rooms are spread across the main villa and two smaller buildings in the park, Villa San Giacomo and Villa Nido.
Seminars and company events
The main conference room is the Salone degli Stucchi on the piano nobile, 94 m², with theatre seating for 100. In Villa San Giacomo, the Salone Ortensia (81 m², with a wrought-iron balcony) takes 80 for meetings and seminars, and the Salone Camelia (60 m²) takes 70. The adjoining Sala Gardenia (35 m²) holds 25 for workshops or cocktails, and Camelia and Gardenia together seat 90 for a business dinner. Villa Nido adds two small first-floor rooms: Sala Margherita for about 30 and Sala Geranio for 20, both theatre-style, the second with three windows onto a panoramic terrace. A congress can therefore run a plenary in one building and breakout groups in another, with coffee breaks and lunches in the park.
Weddings and receptions
The villa hosts weddings, civil unions and symbolic ceremonies. Civil rites take place in the Sala Vaymer, and the Piazzale a Risseu, a 210 m² forecourt paved in Ligurian pebble mosaic, holds ceremonies for 120. The Giardino all'Italiana also hosts civil rites and aperitifs. For the reception, the Terrazza Fronte Mare (120 m²) takes 100 for an aperitif over the sea, the Terrazza Genovese (180 m², covered by a tent structure that is heated in winter) seats 150, and the Salone degli Stucchi seats 120 at round or imperial tables.
Rooms and capacities
On the ground floor, the Sala Vaymer (60 m²) takes 50 for lunches, cocktails and business dinners and opens through four French windows onto the Terrazza Genovese. Villa San Giacomo has its own reception office, which shows the rooms by appointment. The Italian garden and the park are also used for photo and film shoots.
History and setting
The villa was built in the 17th century for a noble family, in the manner of the architect Galeazzo Alessi, and faces the sea. The citrus garden on the seaward terrace, the oldest part of the park, dates from the Durazzo family. The Italian garden, with geometric holly beds, cycads and 19th-century camellias, was laid out in the 19th century, when the Centurione princes also had Villa San Giacomo built. A romantic English-style wood with fountains, statues and cobbled paths leads to the forecourt. Fountains, paths, walls and the monumental entrance were recently restored with EU recovery funds. The villa is run by Progetto Santa Margherita, a company controlled by the Comune di Santa Margherita Ligure.
Getting there
The villa sits in the center of Santa Margherita Ligure, above the harbor. Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino station is on the Genoa to La Spezia line, and Genoa Cristoforo Colombo is the nearest airport.
