Porto Venere
In the far west of the Gulf of La Spezia, 24 km from our houses, lies the charming village of Portovenere. The City takes its name from a temple erected in honor of Venus Ericina, in Roman times, built on the present promontory of St. Peter. Porto Venere was bought by Genoa in 1113, which gave the village its present appearance with the construction of the castle on a pre-existing fortifications, the walls and the tower houses the typical Ligurian colors.
Porto Venere tower also houses the chapter house, to the left of the entrance to Via Capellini’s main street, also called the Carugio, Piazza Spallanzani, where the ancient center of the pre-Roman Castrum Vetus, the church of St. Peter, at the the promontory and the church of San Lorenzo in the hills.
Portovenere is located in front of the archipelago with the three islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto part of the “Regional Natural Park of Porto Venere.” The Tino and Tinetto preserve ancient remains of the eleventh century and sixth centuries respectively. Tino is a military zone and is accessible only to the festivities in honor of San Venerio, September 13. The island of Palmaria, Portovenere separated by a narrow arm of the sea, called “Boka”, is the most visited tourist, with interesting natural values of the Mediterranean type.
Nearby is Le Grazie, a small fishing village that preserves the ruins of the Villa Romana del Varignano and the late Gothic sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie and the village of Fezzano, with old houses leaning against each other in the middle of the alleys and in the center of the church of San Giovanni Battista in 1740.
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