 Welcome to Porto Venere
The Romans called this place Portus Veneris for its beauty. The ancient nucleus developed around the modern-day promontory of San Pietro, where there was a temple dedicated to Venus Ericina, which is where the town's name derives from. A Byzantine stronghold in mediaeval times, it was destroyed by the Rotari in 643 AD but grew again over the next centuries thanks to the monastic movement, which involved the two islands of Palmaria and Tino. It was conceded by the Da Vezzano family in 1113 to the Genoese, who developed the military and marine potential of the town by building the characteristic row of fort-houses along the coast, the walls, the three towers, the town gate and, between 1118 and 1130, the church of San Lorenzo, which was the work of the Antelami master builders.
The resort town
The unique landscape, the leisure port, the beach facilities and the opportunities to go diving off the coastal rocks in front of the town and on the islands all make Portovenere one of the most famous international tourist resorts. The restaurants are famous for their refined fish and seafood dishes (particularly the mussels that are cultivated in the local seafood farms), which are accompanied by the superior wine of the Cinque Terre.
The island of Tino lies beyond Palmaria: it is a military zone and is only open to visitors once a year on the occasion of the feast of San Venerio, the hermit who lived on the island in the tenth century.
Le Grazie is a coastal town set in a charming inlet in the Gulf of La Spezia; it developed around the old Roman Villa del Varignano, whose sizeable ruins can today be visited. | 
Europe
Italy
Liguria
