Our holidays in Liguria…first stop: Porto Venere

Finally (I mean the Italian meaning of finally -finalmente and said with the intonation which means it was high time) our so longed for holidays have arrived! 

This year I will bring you a taste of our wonderful Liguria about which you already know something (www.italiancork.com/off-to-italy-la-perla-del-mediterraneo/ and www.italiancork.com/off-to-italy-yes-dove/). We are in la Serra a small and beautiful suburb of Lerici, in county La Spezia (see map). Therefore we are ‘ad un tiro di schioppo’ (a shot of rifle, it is an expression to say that we are very close) to the most famous ‘Cinque terre’, ‘Porto Venere’ and many other beautiful villages, such as Fiascherino, Tellaro or Montemarcello.

We are staying in ‘La casa sul mare‘ a lovely apartment with the most marvellous view overlooking the Golfo dei poeti (the Gulf of the poets); in fact, several poets, writers and artists loved finding their inspiration in the villages facing the gulf. Among them we remember the writer David Herbert Lawrence, the writer and painter George Sand, the poet Lord Byron and the writer Percy Bysshe Shelley in whose memory a beautiful garden was built.

If you ever happen to be around here, I strongly recommend going to Porto Venere an ancient and picturesque small town in front of Palmaria island. Its name comes from Venere (Venus) the divinity worshiped by the first inhabitants. You can walk along the cost, enjoy the view of the ancient and colourful houses which used to belong to fishermen and get to the small church erected right on the cliff

This is San Pietro’s church today, but it used to be a pagan temple. The view is breathtaking. From there you could also admire Byron’s bay; this is the place which used to inspire this poet… it is a stunning location. I was inspired myself… I didn’t write anything, but I went for a lovely swim. On your way back to your parking spot or to the ferry you could pass through the centre of the village which is just as beautiful as the coast. The village is like a web of quaint cobbled streets and stone stairs which link houses and local shops. Cars are not allowed and neither could they fit there, so people walk up and down eating their gelato or pizza or farinata (to know more about this local plate just click). You may call this place ‘timeless’ and I couldn’t agree more.

Back home Carlo and Anna took us to a great place for dinner. This is a place that only locals know about (Dal Luci, Via degli Stagnoni, 94/E, La Spezia). Therefore, I would advise that you to save the name and the address of this ristorante as we had the most beautiful fish ever. No problem if you are coeliac… they cooked for us ‘fritto misto di pesce’ (pan fried fish, including octopus) with gluten free flour and ‘spaghetti all’astice’ (lobster spaghetti) with gluten free pasta. Everything accompanied with a ‘vino della casa’ (wine of the house) a lovely and firm white wine called Vermentino. My friends went for beautiful desserts… I was just fine as I finished my fritto misto. I can’t wait to go back to this place (prices are also reasonable). Carlo and Anna have ‘di piu’ in serbo’ (more in stock) for our hols … I will keep you updated!