The Enchanting Port of Venus: Portovenere

Porto Venere, the small coastal centre in the province of La Spezia, knows how to enchant anyone, from lovers of Italian Riviera atmospheres to food historians. 

The Ligurian coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of utter scenic and cultural value - not surprisingly, Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto have boasted UNESCO World Heritage Site status since 1997.

This ancient coastal garrison (known to Etruscan ships) turned into a Roman castrum, then into a Byzantine and Carolingian port. 

In the 14th century (1338), poet Francesco Petraca deemed Porto Venere the proper dwelling for the goddess Minerva.

Nowadays, its microclimate and genius loci (a concoction of wine, fishing and portoro marble) are appreciated worldwide. 

Porto Venere is the western gem of the (befittingly named) Gulf of Poets, the smallest coastal municipality in the province of La Spezia. It can be reached by a provincial road of Napoleonic origin, coach service, and - in season - a few ferryboats.

Highlights include the church of San Pietro and the parish church of San Lorenzo (Sanctuary of the Madonna Bianca). For those who love nature and history, Porto Venere sublimates a mix of Mediterranean maquis, sea caves, paths, rocks, and pirate memories to be explored sustainably on foot or by bicycle. Sailing, diving, excursions, 360°edutainment.

As for (eno)gastronomy, there come salt-cured anchovies, mussel farming, matafama, sgabei, cod fritters, panissa cö-e çioule, buridda (sometimes featuring conger eel), stuffed octopus cima - thinly sliced like carpaccio, excellent fish (sometimes in scabeccio), testaroli, erbetti (with black-eyed peas), brosseghe (chef Angelo Paracucchi's choice), bönettö de laete, sweet rice cake, biscuits with fennel, and - last but not least -recovery of an almost forlorn white wine on the Palmària Isle.

My English abstract of Umberto Curti's article as published in Liguria Food

Luisa Puppo 

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