A few small, beautiful, isolated lakes near Arenzano, formed by the river Leone. They have the good fortune to be in 40/50 minutes walk from the last useful place where you can leave the car, which protects them from the tourist who prefers the crowded, noise beaches.
We went one Sunday, July 14 and to our great satisfaction, we were the only ones to swim. They are part of the natural park of Beigua.
The starting point is near the restaurant Agueta du Sciria, excellent point of reference for the car navigation system. Once you reach the exit Arenzano on the highway, turn right twice and follow the directions to the restaurant (the road is a bit narrow), leave your car here and after a few meters you will find information panel.
The journey begins on a dirt road in the sun, in the background we could see the Ligurian Sea, but we are not in a clear day. Some torrents flow from the walls, the valley is full of water. There are a lot of flowers, butterflies and dragonflies, a really pleasant scenery. After about 1.4 km, we arrive at a crossroads, in the location "Passo Gua"
.The signal indicates 35 minutes to the lakes, but we go to the right for a longer walk inside the Valle del Leone, in the direction "Ruggi". We pass some bridges and torrents, the old aqueduct that carried water to Arenzano and a nice woods, still surrounded by beautifully flowers and butterflies. After more than 5 km, begins the steep descent to the ponds, which we reach after two hours walking and about 6 km (but the path could be just 3km if we had pointed directly at the lakes).
The lakes are small, the water is cold but a bath is mandatory! Unfortunately there is no trace of shadow, we suggest you avoid the middle of the day or to bring something to protect yourself. As you can see, we are the only guest of the place. Above the waterfall there are other lakes, but we could not reach them. During the way back we close the loop route until the initial junction and in about an hour we were back to the starting point.
Overall, we covered almost 10 km with 150 meters of ascent