Portofino

Pliny the Elder mentioned a Portus Delphini, the Port of the Dolphin, on this stretch of the Ligurian coast between Genoa and the Gulf of Tigullio. The village appears in a diploma of 986 by Adelaide of Italy, which assigned it to the nearby abbey of San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte; its inhabitants beat off an attack by the Pisan fleet recorded in 1072. In 1171 it came under the commune of Rapallo, together with Santa Margherita Ligure, and after 1229 it belonged to the Republic of Genoa.

The natural harbour sheltered a fleet of fishing boats but was too cramped to serve the Genoese merchant marine as more than a temporary haven. In 1409 Charles VI of France, then ruling Genoa, sold Portofino to Florence, which returned it after he was ousted; in the 15th century it was held as a fief by families such as the Fieschi, Spinola, Adorno and Doria. In 1815 it passed to the Kingdom of Sardinia and in 1861 to the Kingdom of Italy.

In the late 19th century British and then other northern European aristocrats began to arrive, by horse and cart from Santa Margherita Ligure. Elizabeth von Arnim's 1922 novel The Enchanted April, based on her stay at Castello Brown, is credited with making Portofino fashionable, and expatriates built holiday houses. By 1950 tourism had replaced fishing as the main industry. The church of San Giorgio, bombed in the Second World War, was rebuilt, and in 1954 the Christ of the Abyss was lowered into the sea off San Fruttuoso.

Portofino's image was made by writers, film-makers and celebrities. Guy de Maupassant, Guglielmo Marconi and the actors Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer lived here; Richard I of England stopped in 1190. Between 1957 and 1962 several Italian films were shot in the village, and the 1991 film of The Enchanted April was filmed at Castello Brown. Dalida's 1959 song 'Love in Portofino' became a hit and came to be closely linked with the village's name, and Andrea Bocelli gave two concerts in the Piazzetta in 2012.

The village has been copied abroad: Portofino Bay at Universal Orlando and the Mediterranean Harbor at Tokyo DisneySea recreate it, and the Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis, while denying that Portmeirion was a copy, admitted he had fallen for Portofino. Ferrari named a car after it in 2017.

Behind the glamour, Portofino keeps the traditions of a Ligurian fishing village. Its churches — San Giorgio above the harbour, Divo Martino and the Gothic oratory of Santa Maria Assunta — remain centres of local life, and the whole municipality lies within the Portofino regional natural park and marine protected area. A trail running race through the park, starting from Santa Margherita Ligure, uses the promontory's paths.

Portofino has only about 360 residents. The houses cluster around the harbour and up the slopes behind it, and the whole territory falls within the regional natural park and the marine protected area.

Tourism is the economy. Since about 1950 it has replaced fishing as the main industry, and the harbour is a continuous ring of restaurants, cafés and boutiques selling fashion, craft items and Murano glass jewellery, most of them open from late February to late October. Yachts moor in the harbour and off the coves, cruise passengers and day-trippers arrive by ferry from Genoa and the towns of the Gulf of Tigullio, and weekends are especially busy.

The rhythm of the day follows the visitors: quiet mornings, busy middays around the Piazzetta, late lunches and dinners after eight. The sun disappears behind the promontory early in the evening and the harbour cools. Out of season, with the boutiques closed, the village returns to its small resident community, and the park's paths to San Fruttuoso and the lighthouse belong largely to walkers.

Portofino eats as the rest of the Riviera di Levante does. Pesto, which belongs to this coast, is made by pounding fresh basil with pine nuts, grated Parmesan and pecorino, garlic and olive oil, and the harbour restaurants serve it with pasta and in lasagne. Focaccia is the everyday bread, and the village bakery sells it with small pizzas and cakes, the cheapest way to have lunch here.

Eating out in Portofino is famously expensive: the harbour restaurants have a view and prices to match, and weekend tables fill with yacht and cruise passengers. Many visitors settle instead for gelato from the stalls along the harbour, hazelnut being a favourite flavour, or buy regional foods and wines from the small shops around the port.

The wines served are Ligurian, mostly white, with some reds. After the meal, limoncino, a sweet, creamy lemon liqueur served chilled, is the local digestif, sold in shops around the harbour. The wider Gulf of Tigullio adds its own specialities, and the focaccia of nearby Recco, two paper-thin layers of dough with prescinsêua cheese between them, is a short trip away.