44.384° N, 9.018° E
Complete guide
Quinto al Mare beach: beach guide
What the beach is like
Quinto al Mare beach lies in the municipality of Genoa (Genova), in Liguria, and faces the Ligurian Sea. Quinto al Mare is a residential district of Genoa, in Municipio IX Levante, squeezed between the sea and the last slopes of monte Fasce, known as monte Moro. The beach corresponds to monitoring point IT007010025027, that is, the Via Flecchia bathing area, which the Comune di Genova, in its ordinance of 30 April 2026, gives as 699 metres long, from the west side of number 25 via Gianelli to the axis of via Flecchia.
The municipality's information sheet, with a classification based on the 2021-2024 period, describes a residential area with coarse-grained beaches directly in front of the road and the built-up area of Genova Quinto. The coast alternates mainly gravel beach, rocks and man-made structures. On the western side of the area there is a drainage outfall. In the municipality's sheet, with the 2021-2024 classification, the accesses to the area are numbered from 24 to 32.
According to Wikipedia, Quinto al Mare is home to some of the city's best-known bathing establishments and to several places where Ligurian specialities can be tasted. The place takes its name from its position at the fifth mile from Genoa along the medieval road now called via Antica Romana, which led towards the Riviera di Levante and Tuscany. The district began as a fishing village and in the nineteenth century became a shipowning centre building merchant sailing ships. The rio Bagnara also flows down from the hills behind and reaches the sea at the beach of the same name.
Getting there
As the crow flies, Nervi is 1.7 km east of the beach and Quarto dei Mille 1.8 km to the north-west. According to Wikipedia, the district has a railway station with connections to the city centre and the Riviera di Levante, as well as AMT bus lines 15, 17 and 515, which run along the seafront road and corso Europa, and the Drinbus on-demand service. Until 1916 the station, simply called Quinto, stood in via Gianelli.
When to go
According to QualeSpiaggia data, the beach faces south. With the scirocco, the ostro and the libeccio, the wind blows in from the sea and the beach is exposed to waves. With the tramontana, the grecale and the maestrale, the wind blows from land and the beach is sheltered, with calmer water close to shore. The levante and the ponente strike it from the side. This is an indication based on the orientation of the coast, not a forecast.
According to the municipal ordinance, the 2026 bathing season in Genoa ran from 1 May to 30 September. The municipality's sheet states that the water is monitored monthly from 1 April to 30 September.
Seabed and sea
In the 2025 season the European Environment Agency rated the bathing water quality as sufficient. The municipal ordinance of 2026, based on the regional decree, instead gives the Via Flecchia area the class good. The class good also appears in the municipality's sheet, based on the 2021-2024 period. In the 2024 season there were 3 bathing bans, for a total of 22 days. The Quinto area includes a site of community importance proposed by the Natura 2000 network of Liguria, on the seabed off the Genoa districts of Boccadasse, Sturla, Quarto dei Mille and Nervi. It has meadows of Posidonia oceanica and coral formations, with fish such as the seahorse, the peacock wrasse and the horned blenny. When the sea is rough, it is best to stay on the shore.
Rules and protected areas
The notice in the municipality's information sheet warns that bathing is not safe because there is no dedicated lifeguard service, and that neither the limit of safe waters nor that of waters closed to navigation is marked. According to the sheet, on the strip of beach 5 metres wide from the shoreline only passing through is allowed, and leaving any object that gets in the way, including beach towels, is forbidden. The same sheet points out that occupying the maritime state property without a concession or authorisation is a criminal offence. In 2026 the municipal ordinance permanently prohibits bathing along a 150-metre stretch between the west and east sides of the Quinto sewage treatment plant, described as a dangerous rocky shore. The same ordinance provides for penalties for anyone who breaks the bathing bans.
With children
In the information sheet for the Via Flecchia area, the municipality lists a Baby Pit Stop.
Nearby
At the axis of via Flecchia, where the Via Flecchia area ends, begins the Quinto bathing area, which the 2026 ordinance gives as 394 metres long, up to the west side of number 69 via Gianelli, and rates excellent. In the municipality's sheet the Quinto area has access number 33 and the class excellent, based on the 2021-2024 period. In the 2024 season the Quinto area had 1 bathing ban, for a total of 4 days. From the west side of number 69 via Gianelli begins an area of 54 metres, rated excellent in 2026, followed by the via Murcarolo area, 376 metres long and also excellent. The Via Gianelli area, 618 metres long, which ends at the west side of number 25 via Gianelli, where the Via Flecchia area begins, is also rated excellent in 2026. The Divisione Acqui area, 575 metres long, from the east side of the Quinto sewage treatment plant to the axis of via Divisione Acqui, is instead rated poor in 2026. In the Via Gianelli area cases of potentially toxic algal blooms have been reported, with the alert threshold for Ostreopsis ovata exceeded in checks in July and August 2008. The nearest beaches are Bagni Europa, 1.4 km to the west, the Spiaggia Capolungo, 2.8 km to the east, and the Spiaggia di Vernazzola, 3.1 km to the west. The Spiaggia di Bogliasco is 4.2 km to the east. The district is home to the parish church of San Pietro, first mentioned in 1198 and rebuilt in the eighteenth century and in the second half of the nineteenth century. There is also the oratory of Sant'Erasmo, dating originally from the fifteenth century, rebuilt and enlarged in later centuries.