Portovenere

February 14, 2002

Portovenere was the main reason for everyone to head out to the Ligurian coast. It is where Ellie's family is from. It is just down the coast from La Spezia and Portofino, just past the Cinque Terra. Below is a map of the Ligurian Coast. Portovenere is down in the bottom right corner, directly south of La Spezia. You can see the 5 towns that make up the Cinque Terre just of the coast from Portovenere, with Portofino much further up the coast, and finally Genoa, or Genova as it is known in Italy, in the upper left corner (map courtesy of www.sleepingitaly.com). 

Portovenere dates back to Roman times and was a stronghold on the Rome to Spain trade routes. It was often caught up in the bitter rivalries between Pisa and Genoa, usually siding with the Genoese. During the age of the barbarians, in 643, it was a naval base for the Byzantine against the Longobards, and remained a strong naval port and defense point for many centuries. It has been sacked and burned several times. Over the years, the town became less important as a naval base because the invention of firearms meant that it was easy to inflict serious damage on the buildings that cling to the cliffs and shorelines. It has since survived through the years mostly as a fishing village, but also thriving some on tourism. The road that links Portovenere and La Spezia was built by that famous Frenchman, Nappy the 1st, better known as Napoleon. The remains of all this history include a medieval castle built in 1161, the Saint Lawrence Church built in 1116, and Saint Peter's Church built in 1277. To learn more about the history of Portovenere, click here.

Read on and see what the pictures have to say of Portovenere.

As we know, Patti's family comes from Portovenere, and probably had something to do with Napoleon himself. So Ellie truly enjoyed visiting. Here we can see Ellie with Jeff outside an Osteria, which is Italian for Bistro, bearing her family name. Then we see Ellie again in a small shop/deli. Ellie started chatting with the lady, who turned out to be a Baracco herself !

Here is a picture of Ellie with one of the clerks in the store. Patti and Ellie sharing some of that fine Italian food that the French can only dream of.

Here are some pictures of the town itself. The first shows one of the trademarks of Portovenere, the thin, tall, colorful buildings. You can see the remains of the castle on the hill above the town. The second picture is another angle of the town. The third gives a closer look at the same buildings and the narrow streets Europe is famous for.

Here is a close up picture of Ellie, Jeff, and Connor up at the castle.

Last Updated Saturday February 23, 2002 23:49 CET