Comune di Portovenere
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Liguria
Province	Province of La Spezia (SP)
Mayor	Salvatore Matteo Calcagnini (since 14 June 2004)
Elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Area	7 km² (3 sq mi)
Population (as of 2004-12-04)
- Total	4,041
- Density	577/km² (1,494/sq mi)
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	44°3′N, 9°50′E
Gentilic	Portoveneresi
Dialing code	0187
Postal code	19025
Frazioni	Le Grazie, Fezzano
Patron	The White Madonna
- Day	August 17
Website: www.comune.portovenere.sp.it

Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Italy
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv, v
Reference	826
Region†	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1997  (21st Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Portovenere (sometimes, in English, Porto Venere) is a town and comune (municipality) located on the Ligurian coast of Italy in the province of La Spezia. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions In Italy, a Province (in Italian provincia) is an administrative division of intermediate level between Municipality ( Comune The Province of La Spezia (Italian Provincia della Spezia) is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " "December 4th" redirects here For the song by Jay-Z, see December 4th (song. Central European Time ( CET) is one of the names of the Time zone that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. UTC+1 is used in the following locations Central European Time West Africa Time Western European Summer Time A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. A demonym or gentilic is a word that denotes the members of a People or the inhabitants of a place Here are a list of area codes in Italy. All numbers here begin with the country code (0039 A frazione, in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a Comune; for other Administrative Events 986 - A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli The Cinque Terre (pronounced CHEEN-kweh TEHR-reh is a rugged portion of coast of the Riviera to the west of the city of La Spezia, in the province of La Spezia Palmaria is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea, at the westernmost end of the Gulf of La Spezia. Tino is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea, at the westernmost end of the Gulf of La Spezia. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex As of 2008 there are a total of 878 World Heritage Sites located in 145 "State Parties" Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe. Asia Minor, Cyprus, all of the Aegean Islands, the Canaries A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex In Italy, the comune, (plural comuni) is the basic Administrative division of both provinces and regions and may be properly approximated in Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Province of La Spezia (Italian Provincia della Spezia) is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. It comprises the three villages of Fezzano, Le Grazie and Portovenere, and the three islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto. Palmaria is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea, at the westernmost end of the Gulf of La Spezia. Tino is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea, at the westernmost end of the Gulf of La Spezia. Tinetto is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea. It is part of an archipelago of three closely spaced islands jutting out south from the mainland at Portovenere In 1997 Portovenere and the villages of Cinque Terre were designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The Cinque Terre (pronounced CHEEN-kweh TEHR-reh is a rugged portion of coast of the Riviera to the west of the city of La Spezia, in the province of La Spezia United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex

History

The ancient Portus Veneris is believed to date back to at least the middle of the first century BCE. It has been said that the name refers to a temple to the goddess Venus which was sited on the promontory where the church of Peter the Apostle now stands. Venus was a major Roman Goddess principally associated with Love, Beauty and fertility, the equivalent of the Greek goddess The name has also been linked to that of the hermit Saint Venerius. Saint Venerius ( San Venerio) (ca 560 — 630) was a Monk and Hermit. In Roman times the city was essentially a fishing community.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Portovenere became the base of the Byzantine fleet in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, but was destroyed by the Lombards in 643 CE. The Western Roman Empire refers to the western half of the Roman Empire, from its division by Diocletian in 285 the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern The Lombards ( Latin Langobardi, whence the alternative names Langobards and Longobards) were a Germanic people originally from Later, it was a frequent target of Saracen raids. Saracen was a term used by Europeans in the Middle Ages for Fatimids at first then later for all who professed the religion of Islam. First indications of the existence of a castle date from 1113, and in 1161 the walls were erected. Portovenere became a fiefdom of a family from Vezzano before passing to Genoa in the early twelfth century. Under the system of Feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing Vezzano Ligure is a Comune (municipality in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 80 km southeast Genoa ( Genova, ˈdʒɛːnova in Italian; Zena in Genoese and Ligurian; Genua in Latin and archaically in English In 1494, it suffered a devastating bombardment from the Aragonese fleet during their war with Genoa: subsequently the old part of the town declined in importance, giving way to the development of the Borgo Nuovo ("New District"), which had existed from 1139 and is centred on the church of St. The Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon. Peter.

Main sights

Statue of St. Peter in the homonymous church.

Façade of the church of St. Lawrence.

The Doria Castle.

• The Gothic church of St. See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period.  Peter, consecrated in 1198. It was built over a pre-existing fifth century Palaeo-Christian church, which had rectangular plan and semicircular apse. The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini / Common Era. The new part, from the thirteenth century, is marked externally by white and black stripes.

• The Romanesque church of St. Regional characteristics of Romanesque architecture|Romanesque art Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which  Lawrence, erected in 1098 by the Genoese. It probably occupies the site of ancient temple dedicated to Jupiter. In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of the gods and the god of Sky and Thunder. The church was damaged by a fire in 1340 and by the Aragonese attack in 1494, and was further restored in 1582.

• The Doria Castle. Doria, originally de Auria (from de filiis Auriae) meaning "the sons of Auria" and then de Oria or d'Oria, is the name of an old

• 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. Lerici is a town and commune in the Province of La Spezia in Liguria (northern Italy) part of the Italian Riviera. Year 1822 (MDCCCXXII was a Common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Sunday of the

The medieval nucleus of Le Grazie is set around the fourteenth-century Church of Our Lady of the Graces; nearby is a medieval convent, which once belonged to the Olivetans, and the remains of the first century BCE Roman villa of Varignano. The Olivetans, or the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, are a monastic order formally recognised in 1344. A Roman villa is a Villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. Arco is a Comune in the Province of Trento in northeast Italy, with a population of around 16023 Finds from recent excavations at the villa are held in the Antiquarium della Villa Romana del Varignano in Portovenere.

In Fezzano the medieval alleyways are noteworthy, along with the church of St.  John the Baptist (1740) and the recently restored Villa Cattaneo.

External links

• Official website The site is largely in Italian, but pages in English include:
  • Image Gallery
  • A welcome from the mayor
• Unesco World Heritage entry
• Pictures from Portovenere