Portovenere

Portovenere sits on a rocky peninsula on the Gulf of Poets, an area in the Gulf of La Spezia once popular with writers such as Byron, Shelley and DH Lawrence.

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 in Lerici, in 1822.

The Gothic 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.

Portovenere is southeast of the Cinque Terre at the end of the Italian Riviera, in the region of Liguria. Portovenere is across the bay from Lerici, another village worth visiting. Three small islands are just Portovenere is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Portovenere's harbor is lined with brightly colored houses and narrow medieval streets lead up the hill to a castle off the coast from this town.

                                                             

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

George Gordon Byron