Portovenere (sometimes, in English,
Porto Venere) is a town and
comuneIn Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division of both provinces and regions, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.- Importance and function :...
(municipality) located on the
LiguriaLiguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food.- Geography :...
n coast of
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
in the
province of La SpeziaThe Province of La Spezia is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of La Spezia....
. It comprises the three villages of Fezzano, Le Grazie and Portovenere, and the three islands of
PalmariaPalmaria is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea, at the westernmost end of the Gulf of La Spezia. Measuring 1.6 km², it is the largest island of an archipelago of three closely spaced islands jutting out south from the mainland at Portovenere...
,
TinoTino is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea, at the westernmost end of the Gulf of La Spezia. It is part of an archipelago of three closely spaced islands jutting out south from the mainland at Portovenere...
and
TinettoTinetto is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea. It is part of an archipelago of three closely spaced islands jutting out south from the mainland at Portovenere...
. In 1997 Portovenere and the villages of
Cinque TerreThe Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia...
were designated by
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
as a World Heritage Site.
History
The ancient
Portus Veneris is believed to date back to at least the middle of the first century BCE. It has been said that the name refers to a temple to the goddess
VenusVenus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths. From the third century BC, the increasing Hellenization of Roman upper classes identified her as the equivalent of the Greek goddess...
which was sited on the promontory where the church of Peter the Apostle now stands. The name has also been linked to that of the hermit
Saint VeneriusSaint Venerius was a monk and hermit. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and is the patron saint of the Gulf of La Spezia and, as of 1961, the patron saint of lighthouse keepers....
. In Roman times the city was essentially a fishing community.
After the fall of the
Western Roman EmpireThe Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire, from its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, today widely known as the Byzantine Empire....
, Portovenere became the base of the Byzantine fleet in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, but was destroyed by the
LombardsThe Lombards were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italy in 568 under the leadership of Alboin. They established a Kingdom of Italy which lasted until 774, when it was conquered by the Franks...
in 643 CE. Later, it was a frequent target of
SaracenSaracen was a term used by Europeans in the Middle Ages for Arabs at first, then later for all who professed the religion of Islam.-Etymology:...
raids. First indications of the existence of a castle date from 1113, and in 1161 the walls were erected. Portovenere became a
fiefdomUnder the system of medieval European feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord, generally to a vassal, in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military...
of a family from
VezzanoVezzano Ligure is a comune in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 80 km southeast of Genoa and about 7 km northeast of La Spezia...
before passing to
GenoaGenoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
in the early twelfth century. In 1494, it suffered a devastating bombardment from the
AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
ese fleet during their war with Genoa: subsequently the old part of the town declined in importance, giving way to the development of the
Borgo Nuovo ("New District"), which had existed from 1139 and is centred on the church of St. Peter.
Main sights
- The Gothic
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
church of St. Peter, consecrated in 1198. It was built over a pre-existing fifth century Palaeo-Christian church, which had rectangular plan and semicircular apse. The new part, from the thirteenth century, is marked externally by white and black stripes.
- The Romanesque
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe, characterised by semi-circular arches, and evolving into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches, beginning in the 12th century...
church of St. Lawrence, erected in 1098 by the Genoese. It probably occupies the site of ancient temple dedicated to JupiterIn Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter Optimus Maximus ; as the patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and social order...
. The church was damaged by a fire in 1340 and by the Aragonese attack in 1494, and was further restored in 1582.
- The Doria
Doria, originally de Auria , meaning "the sons of Auria", and then de Oria or d'Oria, is the name of an old and extremely wealthy Genoese family who played a major role in the history of the Republic of Genoa from the 12th century to the 16th century.-Origins:According to legend, a noble Genoese...
Castle.
- The Grotta dell'Arpaia (now collapsed), known as Byron's Grotto, from which the English poet Byron swam across the gulf of La Spezia to San Terenzo to visit Shelley
-Surname:* Alexander Shelley, a British conductor* Alex Shelley, stage name of professional wrestler Patrick Martin* George Ernest Shelley, an ornithologist* Harry Rowe Shelley, an American composer* Howard Shelley, a British pianist* John Shelley, U.S...
in LericiLerici is a town and commune in the province of La Spezia in Liguria , part of the Italian Riviera. Its nearest bay is the Bay of Lerici. The town is connected by ferry to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere....
, in 1822.
The medieval nucleus of Le Grazie is set around the 14th-century Church of Our Lady of the Graces; nearby is a medieval convent, which once belonged to the
OlivetansThe Olivetans, or the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, are a monastic order formally recognised in 1344. They have formed the Olivetan Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation since 1960.-History:...
, and the remains of the first century BCE
Roman villaA Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
of Varignano. Finds from recent excavations at the villa are held in the
Antiquarium della Villa Romana del Varignano in Portovenere.
In Fezzano the medieval alleyways are noteworthy, along with the church of St. John the Baptist (1740) and the recently restored
Villa Cattaneo.
External links