Portofino (Portofin in Liguria) is an Italian town of 382 inhabitants in the metropolitan city of Genoa in Liguria. Due to its administrative extension, equal to 2.53 km², it is the smallest municipal area in the metropolitan area.
Parish church of Divo Martino in the oldest village of Portofino.
Church of San Giorgio, outside the village in a dominant position,
dating back to the 12th century and entirely rebuilt in its 18th century
form after the bombing in the Second World War.
Oratory of Our Lady
of the Assumption in the historic centre, seat of the confraternity of
the same name, the latter founded by the same community of the
Disciplinanti in the 14th century. During the 15th century it underwent
several structural modifications which greatly modified its original
14th-century appearance.
Hermitage or hermitage of Sant'Antonio di Niasca in the locality of
the same name. Located inside the Niasca valley between the towns of
Paraggi and Portofino, reachable only through a wooded path, it was
built in the XIII century and later enlarged during the XIX century; the
site is mentioned in a document of 1318. In 2010 it can be visited again
after a restoration supervised, among other bodies, by the Portofino
Park Authority.
Villa Beatrice, designed by the architect Gino
Coppedè and built around 1913.
Military architectures
Brown
Castle, formerly of San Giorgio, from the 16th century.
Punta Chiappa
battery, defensive complex of the 202nd coastal battery of the Royal
Army, built towards the end of the 1930s on the western side of the
Portofino peninsula, conceived as an anti-ship system to protect the
east of the Gulf of Genoa, the aforementioned battery is located in
municipal territory of Camogli.
natural areas
In the municipal
area of Portofino there is a site of community interest, proposed by the
Natura 2000 network of Liguria, present and preserved, due to its
particular natural and geological interest. The site is located between
the seabed of the municipalities of Camogli, Portofino and Santa
Margherita Ligure where a particular habitat is signaled consisting of
oceanic posidonia meadows, coral formations and semi-dark caves. Among
the animal species there are the fish Epinephelus marginatus, Gobius
luteus, Sciaena umbra, Sciaena mediterraneus, Sciaena ocellatus,
Thalassoma pavo; the gorgonians Paramuricea clavata and Eunicella
verrucosa; the porifera Spongia agaricina and Spongia officinalis; the
mollusk Spondylus gaederopus and the red coral Corallium rubrum.
Amisani Waterfront
Giuseppe Amisani died on the seafront of
Portofino, where he usually painted, on December 7, 1941, the following
day in the place of his death the Municipality of Portofino installed a
plaque dedicating the section known as "Lungomare Amisani" to him,
surpassing the locality of Bocche and following the main road going down
to the seashore you can see the marble plaque with the inscription:
"here the beauty of the world smiled for the last time at Giuseppe
Amisani painter"
Patronal feast of San Giorgio (April 23).
The bathing in Paraggi is top notch and the sea beautifully clean,
there are many expensive commercial beaches and a tiny busy free area in
between.
One of the best things to do in Portofino is relaxation.
Stroll around the small town, listen to the sea, have a rest. There is a
small wine bar where you have the opportunity to have a drink sitting
less than a meter from the sea.
Dive to look for the sculpture of
Christ of the Abyss.
If money isn't an issue, try hiring a small
taxi boat. It's an unforgettable experience.
Renting a boat, ☎
+39 340 36 45 484, info@1portofino.com. Rent a boat or as a sea taxi.
All boutiques are usually open from the end of February to the end of
October.
There are a couple of small shops in the harbor area
offering reasonably priced regional food and wine.
There are
several elegant boutiques selling haute couture, but as the shops are
small, by definition, so is the range. If you're not looking for runway
attire, there are also several shops selling handcrafted items,
including Murano glass jewelry.
Of course there are a few tourist
shops and kiosks too, with the usual assortment of beads, magnets and
T-shirts. Bear in mind that many shops operate somewhat erratic opening
hours and are more common to be "closed" than "open".
By plane
Genoa Airport is connected to the center with the Volabus
bus which ends at the Genova Brignole station and also stops at the
Genova Principe station. It runs from early morning until around 11pm
and runs every hour. The ride costs 6 euros (April 2014).
By car
A12 Genoa-La Spezia motorway: Rapallo exit. Follow the directions for
Santa Margherita Ligure - Portofino.
The SP227 ends in Portofino,
which allows the only driveway connection with nearby Santa Margherita.
On boat
Port of Portofino. Departures almost every hour from the
promenade of Rapallo with a stopover in Santa Margherita Ligure. Here it
makes a small stop necessary for the disembarkation and embarkation of
passengers and then continues towards the village, also reaching San
Fruttuoso. For details click here.
There are also links to:
Sestri
Levante, Lavagna, Chiavari and San Fruttuoso (see here).
On the
train
Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino station is the closest
railway stop on the Genoa-Pisa line. To get there, one possibility is a
walk of 1 hour and 20 minutes, or by bus.
By bus
From the
municipality of Santa Margherita Ligure, a local public transport
service managed by the ATP guarantees daily bus connections with
Portofino on line 82. The bus stop is located in the upper part of the
city.
Single journey €3 (points of sale), €4 (on board)
Return
€5 (points of sale), €6 (on board). Rates updated in May 2021.
Once in Portofino, walking might be the best option. The city is not
large and most of the hotels and beaches are within walking distance of
the port. Alternatively, mopeds appear to be a popular choice for
getting around, especially for those who visit many of the smaller
regional towns on their own schedule. Be careful when walking, the
streets are cobbled and full of potholes, many steps abound in this
beautiful village.
Again, should you be lucky enough to have a
boat at your disposal, this would be another convenient way to get
around the area. There are also rentals available in the port.
By
taxi
Taxis are available, but very expensive. The minimum fare is
€20.
By car
However, the road that connects Santa Maria Ligure
to Portofino is rather narrow and not suitable for large vehicles, such
as campers, which could have difficulty maneuvering and transiting.
Furthermore, it should be underlined that there is a lack of adequate
parking spots and that the paid parking managed by the Municipality,
under the Town Hall, costs €5.50/hour in high season (€2.50/hour in low
season) (updated rates year 2021).
The bakery is an inexpensive way to get lunch, selling a variety of
focaccias, pizzas and cakes.
Portofino harbor is surrounded by
restaurants, serving broadly the same selection of pasta, frozen fish
and €7 soft drinks.
Three things to remember when dining in
Portofino. As a popular destination for yacht weekend travelers or liner
cruisers, it can get quite crowded on those days. If you've eyed up a
particular restaurant for a weekend meal, be sure to book.
Restaurants do cartel, which means prices are basically the same
everywhere, which is about three times what you'd pay in an expensive
city. There is a €7 per person cover charge, so four people going out
for a meal will already be short of €28 just to sit down. A glass of
wine will cost €20, while a fish main course will cost €40-50. Pasta and
salads cost around €20. Although you are next to a port, the fish is not
fresh and you will see small print on the menu explaining that it is
frozen. If you want a good meal without spending 120 euros per person,
you'd be better off heading to San Margherita Ligure, where the prices
are much more reasonable.
As with most things Italian, the ice
creams are spectacular, so be sure to treat yourself to some of the
stalls along the harbour, particularly hazelnut.
The region is
known for some unique white varietals, including some notable Pinot
Gris. The available reds are also quite flavorful, so don't avoid them
completely.
Some shops offer locally produced Limoncello.
Average prices
1 Trattoria Tripoli, Piazza Martiri dell'Olivetta, 49,
☎ +39 0185269011.
High prices
2 Cracco Portofino Restaurant,
Molo Umberto I, 9, ☎ +39 01851636026. Luxury restaurant of the famous
chef Cracco.
Average prices
1 Hotel Piccolo, Via Duca degli Abruzzi, 31, ☎ +39
0185 269015, fax: +39 0185 269621.
The municipality is located in the western
part of the Gulf of Tigullio, in a bay at the foot of the promontory
of the same name, east of Genoa, effectively marking the
geographical border between the Golfo Paradiso and the Tigullio.
The entire municipal territory is included in the Portofino
Regional Natural Park and in the Portofino Marine Protected Natural
Area.
The best way to appreciate the wonders of the park is
to safely walk its most characteristic and fascinating paths, all
adequately marked. Crossing the dense network of over 60 km, it is
possible to discover the richness and variety of the natural
environments, landscapes and complex monuments of the promontory.
The Tigullii inhabited the area of Val Fontanabuona
and the present Tigullio Gulf up to the Portofino Promontory. This
population of Celtic-Ligurians inhabitants of Portofino, were, as
early as the eighth century BC, quite evolved and devoted to trade
and trade by sea with other populations of the Mediterranean.
According to Pliny the Elder, the village of Portofino had the name
of Portus Delphini during the Roman Empire, between Genoa and the
Gulf of Tigullio due, perhaps, to the large population of these
animals (dolphins) in the Gulf of Tigullio.
The monks of the
abbey of San Colombano di Bobbio worked in the area since the
Lombard period; they were based in Liguria as well as in Genoa also
in the east, in the area they had expanded from Pieve Ligure to
Moneglia, with various abbeys, monasteries and cells, including that
of Comorga near Carasco and San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte.
The
village was mentioned in a 986 diploma from Adelaide di Borgogna,
wife of Lothair II of Italy, in which the donation of the village to
the nearby Colombanian abbey of San Fruttuoso (now in the municipal
territory of Camogli) was made official. A document in the annals of
Bernardo Marangone, dated 1072, mentions the unsuccessful assault of
the naval fleet of Pisa, an act successfully opposed by the
inhabitants of Portofino themselves.
In 1175 the small
fishing village was subjected to administrative control, together
with the adjacent Santa Margherita Ligure, by the free municipality
of Rapallo, which bought the rights to the village for 70 Genoese
lire on behalf of the Rapallo consuls.
Starting from 1229 it
became an integral part of the Republic of Genoa, as well as the
entire Rapallo territory, now the seat of the local podestà,
becoming almost a refuge for the Genoese merchant navy thanks to its
natural port.
In 1409, after the removal from Genoa of the
Emperor Charles VI of France, the latter sold the village to
Florence, but it was the Florentines themselves who later returned
Portofino to the Genoese republic.
During the fifteenth
century it underwent several passages of administration of the most
powerful feudal families of the time; in 1425 it became a possession
of the Fregoso family - in the specific person of Tomaso Fregoso,
former doge of the Republic of Genoa and lord of Sarzana - giving
the village fiefdom for five years. From 1430 the Spinolas were the
lords of the fiefdom, under the leadership of Francesco Spinola,
administering the government of the country for fifteen years. In
1445 Portofino was stolen from the Spinola family by Giovanni
Antonio Fieschi; according to historians for purely demonstrative
act, since it was Fieschi himself who quickly returned the village
to the Genoese.
It was still a descendant of the Fregoso
family, Pietro, who obtained a short period of government of the
country from 1459.
The political and above all military
alliance between the Adorno and the Fieschis with the Duke of Milan
Francesco Sforza led, in 1513, to a real siege of the village.
Quickly the Genoese state, with a contingent of about 4,000 units,
managed to bring the supremacy of the "Superba" back to the town by
defeating, among other things, the men of Admiral Andrea Doria who
rushed to help the castellan Filippino Fieschi by sea.
After
the Fieschi conspiracy of 1547 the territory was taken by Andrea
Doria himself. From 1608 it was inserted in the territories of the
capitanate of Rapallo.
In 1797 with the French domination of
Napoleon Bonaparte the constituted municipality of Portofino
returned from 2 December to the Department of the Gulf of Tigullio,
with Rapallo as its capital, within the Ligurian Republic. From 28
April 1798 with the new French regulations, Portofino returned to
the III canton, capital of Santa Margherita, of the Tigullio
Jurisdiction and from 1803 the main center of the II canton of the
Gulf of Tigullio in the Entella Jurisdiction. Annexed to the First
French Empire, from 13 June 1805 to 1814 it was included in the
Department of the Apennines.
In 1815 it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia,
according to the decisions of the Congress of Vienna of 1814, which
submitted the municipality of Portofino in the province of Chiavari
under the division of Genoa. From 1859 to 1926 the territory was
included in the 5th district of Rapallo in the Chiavari district of
the then province of Genoa, in the Kingdom of Italy.
During
the Second World War in the nearby town called Olivetta, on the
night of 2 and 3 December 1944, twenty partisans were shot by
fascist soldiers, commanded by Siegfried Engel. This event is
remembered by historians as the Olivetta massacre.
On 11 and 12 August 2012 the singer and tenor Andrea Bocelli gave two
concerts in the "Piazzetta" for the Sugar record company. From the
recording and filming carried out, a CD / DVD and a film entitled Love
in Portofino were produced and screened in cinemas in 50 countries.
In 2014 the singer Lana del Rey shot in Portofino the video for her
single Ultraviolence, taken from the album of the same name. The video,
directed by Francesco Carrozzini, the singer's boyfriend at the time,
sees Lana del Rey dressed as a bride and with a bouquet of lilies in her
hand walking along a path surrounded by vegetation and then arriving at
the chapel of San Sebastiano, above Portofino.
In 2020 also the
musical group Il Pagante shot the video for their single Portofino in
the same country and, in the same year, the Italian-British singer and
musician (of Ligurian origin) Jack Savoretti performed for the charity
event One Night in Portofino, the proceeds of which went to the San
Martino hospital in Genoa.
Between 1957 and 1962 in Portofino the films Appointment on the
Riviera, Pesci d'oro e bikini d'argento, Souvenir d'Italie, Hard times
for vampires and The sin of the green years were shot.
In 1975
some scenes of the episode "The man from Portofino" ("Der Mann aus
Portofino") of the television series L'ispettore Derrick were filmed in
which the actor Amedeo Nazzari played.
In 1988 some scenes of the
film Una botta di vita by Enrico Oldoini were filmed.
In the Gulf
of Tigullio and Portofino in particular several Italian and foreign
films were shot in the 1990s. In 1992 the village was the set for some
scenes of the film An enchanting April - set in the twenties - by
director Mike Newell starring various actors such as Miranda Richardson.
Also in 1992, the famous Ligurian town appears in some of the
opening scenes of Dreaming of California, a film by the Vanzina
brothers, with Maurizio Ferrini, Antonello Fassari, Nino Frassica and
Massimo Boldi.
In 1995 the directors Michelangelo Antonioni and
Wim Wenders chose the coastal village as the backdrop for the
erotic-sentimental film Beyond the Clouds with John Malkovich and Sophie
Marceau. In the 2000s, Portofino also hosted the casts of the American
soap opera Beautiful and the Italian ones Vivere and CentoVetrine,
filming some episodes of the television series.
A "Portofino" was
"recreated" in the USA at the Portofino Bay Resort at Universal Studios
in Orlando, Florida.
The village of Portofino and other glimpses
of the Ligurian Riviera inspired the creators of the Disney/Pixar
animated film - Cars 2 - as the animated scenario of the Italian stage
of "Porto Corsa".
In 2013 some scenes of Checco Zalone's third
film Sole a catinelle were filmed there and in the same year some scenes
of the film The Wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese were filmed.
In 2021, again for Pixar, the feature film Luca set in the
fictitious location of "Portorosso", which is the fusion between
Monterosso and Portofino, is produced.
In 2022 the television
series Hotel Portofino was filmed, set in a British-style luxury hotel
in the Ligurian town in 1926, starring Natascha McElhone.
Trail di Portofino, trail running competition, inside the natural
park starting from Santa Margherita Ligure. The race course includes 23
km of ups and downs for a positive difference in height of 1250 metres.
anthropogenic geography
Due to its administrative extension, equal to 2.53 km², it is the smallest municipal area in the metropolitan area. It borders to the north with the municipality of Santa Margherita Ligure, to the west with Camogli, and to the south and east it is bathed by the Ligurian Sea.
Since the great influx of foreign guests - first British and then
German - in the early twentieth century, the economy of Portofino has
been closely linked to tourism. The local "Piazzetta" overlooked by the
public refreshment places, shops, boutiques and other commercial
activities was recognized in July 2012 as a historic place in Italy, the
first and only certificate issued by the association of the same name,
for its value historical and cultural.
The municipality and its
surroundings are an important tourist destination, above all for the
foreign flows that signal the locality to be one of the most pleasant of
the ports of the Mediterranean Sea.
Portofino was the Italian
municipality with the highest per capita income (€51,403) in 2014.
Crafts
Local craftsmanship is centered on the textile art aimed
at making lace and macramé.
Streets
The provincial road 227 ends in Portofino, which allows
the only driveway connection with nearby Santa Margherita Ligure. An
ancient pedestrian path, on the heights, runs along the route in a
non-vehicle form and also allows the connection with various neighboring
municipalities through ramifications.
Railways
The Santa
Margherita Ligure-Portofino station, located in the Santa Margherita
Ligure area, is the closest railway stop on the Genoa-Pisa railway line.
Maritime lines
An alternative could be the boat with departures
almost every hour from the promenade of Rapallo with a stopover in Santa
Margherita Ligure. Here it makes a small stop necessary for the
disembarkation and embarkation of passengers and then continues towards
the village. There are also connections with Camogli, the bay and its
abbey of San Fruttuoso and Genoa.
Urban mobility
From the
municipality of Santa Margherita Ligure, a local public transport
service managed by the AMT guarantees daily bus connections with
Portofino.