A few years ago I fell in love with Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Cote d’Azur. Nothing can match the beautiful scenery and casual ambience of a small seaside town. Now I’ve lost my heart to the charming village of Porto Venere on the Ligurian coast of Italy. This stretch of coastline is known as the Riviera di Levante, the coast of the rising sun.
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| Porto Venere on the Italian Riviera |
We travelled from Florence through the famed marble mountains of Carrara to the northwest coast of Italy. There we boarded a boat in the port of La Spezia and sailed across the gulf to the town of Porto Venere. The gulf is nicknamed the Golfo dei Poeti (Gulf of the Poets) for the English poets, Byron and Shelley, who were equally enchanted by the region. This deep bay is also known for its mussel farming and hosts the chief naval base in Italy.
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| The Marble Mountains of Carrara, Tuscany |
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| Tour Boats in La Spezia |
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| Italian Naval Ships in the Gulf of La Spezia |
The waterfront of Porto Venere is lined with colourful multi-storey buildings and the flag of Genoa, capital of Liguria, flies above the small boats in the harbour. There’s a ticket booth on the dock for boat trips into the Cinque Terre and pine trees shade the seaside promenade.
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| Calata Doria (Doria Quay), Porto Venere |
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| Tour Boat Docked in Porto Venere |
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| The Flag of Genoa |
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| Ticket Booth on the Quay, Porto Venere |
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| Porto Venere's Seaside Promenade |
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| Ligurian Menu |
A medieval wall surrounds the oldest section of Porto Venere and the Latin inscription above the gate declares the village as a Colony of Genoa since 1113. Official Genoese measures of capacity stand next to the gate. Our guide pointed out the holes above the entryway used to pour boiling oil on unsuspecting attackers.
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| Porto Venere Town Gate |
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Latin Inscription Above the Gate
"Colony of Genoa since 1113" |
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| Official Genoese Measure of Capacity |
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| Defensive Openings Above the Entryway |
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| Inside the Gate |
Houses in Porto Venere have two entrances, one on the waterfront and another a few stories higher on the main street, Via Capellini. Enclosed stairways link the quay with the street up above.
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| Stairway Entrance on Calata Doria |
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| Porto Venere Stairway, Scala del 1º Capitolo |
The narrow streets of Porto Venere are called carrugi. They were designed to provide shade and protection from the wind.
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| Via Capellini |
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| The Narrow Streets, or Carrugi, of Porto Venere |
All along Via Capellini there are seafood restaurants featuring Ligurian specialties such as fresh mussels (muscoli) and anchovies (acciughe). Wine bars serve up the local Cinque Terre wines.
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| Osteria Baracco, Porto Venere |
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| Local Wines |
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| Fresh Fruit |
Souvenir shops sell olive oil and products made with olive wood; black and gold-veined portoro marble mined from local quarries; dried pasta like the stamped circular croxetti and twisted trofie; and my favourite pasta sauce.
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| Olive Wood Products |
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| Olive Oil |
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| Fountain of Lions, Piazza Paolo Centinaro |
At the end of sheltered Via Capellini the street opens out onto Piazza Spallanzani and I’ve never seen anything like it – sun, sky and sea all coming together on a vast terrace of stone. Sunbathers cluster on the rocks below Torre di Gian and Castello Doria crowns the hilltop.
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| The End of Via Capellini |
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| Piazza Spallanzani, Porto Venere |
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| Sunbathers in Porto Venere |
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| Torre de Gian |
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| Castello Doria |
Straight ahead is the 13thcentury Chiesa di San Pietro (Church of St. Peter) sitting atop the rocky promontory. The church’s black and white striped marble façade is typical of the local Gothic architecture. A Roman temple to the goddess Venus once occupied this spectacular site above the waves and gave Porto Venere its name.
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| Chiesa di San Pietro, Church of St. Peter |
A window in the sun-baked stone wall frames the view of a bay where Lord Byron used to swim. Byron’s Grotto is a cave which long ago collapsed and the sign refers to Byron’s legendary swim across the Gulf of la Spezia to visit his friend Percy Shelley in Lerici.
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| Window Overlooking Byron's Grotto |
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| The Bay of Byron's Grotto |
My visit to Porto Venere was a brief introduction to the town as we were only beginning a full day of travel. Another boat would soon take us to the rugged and remote Cinque Terre (Five Lands) thirty kilometres up the coast.
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| Church of St. Peter, Porto Venere |
UNESCO has designated Porto Venere and the neighbouring Cinque Terre villages as a World Heritage Site. And though I was excited to embark on the next leg of our journey I hope that I return one day to lovely Porto Venere.
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