portovenere

The elongated village with the idyllic harbor and the characteristic tall narrow colored houses that line up in a long row along the water’s edge are really worth a day trip.

The end of the promenade and the shopping street parallel to it both lead to Piazza Lazzaro Spallanzani, the only square in size in Portovenere. Large events such as concerts, festivals and theater performances are also held here in the summer.

The piazza, in turn, borders on the promenade that leads to the black and white marble San Pietro. This church was built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, on the remains of a church from the fifth century. In Roman times a temple dedicated to the goddess Venus would have stood on the site of the church, from which the town of Portus Veneris (which later became Portovenere) got its name. Both Roman and Gothic architecture can be seen in the church. The black and white “stripes” that are visible both inside the church and on the outside wall date from the thirteenth century.