Casino di Sanremo and the Russian Church

Two landmarks a few minutes' walk apart capture the elegant resort heyday of Sanremo, the principal town of the western Riviera dei Fiori. The Casino di Sanremo is a grand Belle Epoque palace opened in 1905, designed by the French architect Eugene Ferret, with a sweeping facade above Corso degli Inglesi; it is one of only four authorised casinos in Italy and is long bound up with the Sanremo Music Festival, whose Liberty-era glamour still defines the town. A short stroll away, near the seafront Corso Imperatrice, stands the Russian Orthodox Church of Christ the Saviour, consecrated in 1913 and designed in the style of Moscow's St Basil's, with a cluster of brightly tiled onion domes. It was built for the community of Russian aristocrats, including members of the imperial family, who once wintered in Sanremo for its mild climate. Visitors typically pair the two: admiring the casino's facade and, for over-18s with ID, its gaming rooms, then walking to the church to see its exuberant domes and modest icon-filled interior. A visit to both takes around an hour and a half to two hours. The casino offers free entry, though the French gaming and table rooms enforce a dress code, while the church asks a small donation and keeps limited hours. The church's domes against the sky and the casino's floodlit facade are the best photographs. Both sit centrally in Sanremo and combine with a stroll along the Corso Imperatrice palm promenade and seafront in this corner of western Liguria.