The harbour
Coloured houses.
Giorgio Galeotti — CC BY 4.0 · Giorgio Galeotti — CC BY 4.0 · TeKappa — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mathieu Chollet - MChollet — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0
Porto Venere is a town and municipality on the Ligurian coast in the province of La Spezia, northern Italy, about 13 km south-east of the Cinque Terre villages in a straight line, with about 3,208 people, taking in three villages and three islands including Palmaria. UNESCO listed Porto Venere together with the Cinque Terre as a World Heritage Site in 1997. Its ancient name, Portus Veneris, goes back at least to the 1st century BC and is said to refer to a temple of Venus on the headland where the church of St Peter now stands. Tall houses painted yellow, red and pink line the harbour in front of small fishing boats, with the Doria Castle on the hill above, and at the tip of the rocky headland the striped stone church of St Peter stands over the sea. You can arrive by bus from La Spezia or by boat from the Cinque Terre villages, and boats run from the town to Palmaria island. The way up to the church and castle is uphill, and sunset from the headland is lovely.
Coloured houses.
Above the sea.
By boat.
Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy
By bus or boat.
Spring and autumn.