Lear spent the winter of 1864-5 at Nice, whence he made an excursion along the Station Riviera to Genoa. He left Nice early in December, was in Genoa on 22 and 23 December, and back in Nice on 31 December. On Christmas Day he was at Celle, seven kilometres east of Savona, and on Boxing Day he reached Noli, seventeen kilometres to the west.
Noli was an important port in the Middle Ages but by the nineteenth century it was reduced to a small fishing village, famous for its apricots. Behind stands the Castello di Monte Ursino. For another drawing made on this tour see lot 133