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Portovenere |
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Portovenere is one of the most famous
italian seaside resort. The Romans already
knew this village, so colled for the
presence of a temple consecrated to Venus,
the goddess of beauty.
During the Medieval Age, it was feud of the
Lords of Vezzano, then it passed under the
control of Genoa, during the 12th century.
It was heavily damaged in 1494, when
attacked by Alfonso of Aragon’s fleet. The
“Castrum Vetus”, the first real urban centre,
that is actually disappeared, was closed to
Saint Peter’s Church.Houses have generally
two entrances, one facing the beach for the
boats and another facing the street, the
typical “carruggio” that runs parallel with
the coast, but on a higher level. Their
typical structure presents three rooms on
every floor; the central floor has no
windows. Houses are leant one to another for
defensive reasons, too.
Inside the village there aren’t
cross-streets but only some little arcades (called
“capitoli”) that link the street with the
harbour or with the beach, through little
steep stairs. Saint Peter’s Church is
located just on the western cape of the
village; it’s a typical ligurian
romanic-gothic building, erected on the
rests of the ancient temple of Venus. From
here people can enjoy a wonderful view: from
the little romanic loggia you can observe
the starting coastal part of
Cinque Terre,
while the front door of the church dominates
the Gulf and the opposite island (Palmaria).
Saint Peter’s shape recalls a big rocky boat
and it’s the outcome of a lot of different
building’s stages. |
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