From the Gulf of Poets to Punta Pineda and islands 7 hours max 9 people

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Fezzano

  The starting point is a village on the western side of the Gulf of La Spezia and is one of the thirteen fishing villages that compete each year participating in the Gulf Palio. It is important to remember that Fezzano was the birthplace of Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci whose beauty was celebrated by Botticelli who portrayed her in the Birth of Venus in 1482. Not only the beauty of Simonetta was immortalized in Botticelli's Venus, but also the stretch of coast that is the background to the painting, and from which Venus is born, reproduces the beauty of the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia where Fezzano is located.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Lerici

  Lerici, located on the eastern shore of the Gulf of La Spezia, was probably settled around the seventh century BC.C. in Etruscan times and over time its position made it a natural port first of the Ligurians and then of Rome. But it was with the Republic of Genoa (one of the 4 Maritime Republics that from Italy have characterized the history of the Mediterranean, and not only) that Lerici assumed strategic importance. Dante Alighieri also seems to have passed through Lerici by virtue of the powerful quotation from Canto III of Purgatory, vv. 49 - 51, but it is the passage to Lerici (and Portovenere) of some English Romantic writers who define the Gulf of La Spezia as the Gulf of Poets; Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft Shelley (the author of Frankenstein) and George Gordon Byron, to name the main ones.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 3

  Tellaro, the easternmost hamlet of Lerici, is a small fishing village perched on a cliff and is reviewed as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. Saracen raids were common in this area. On 19 July 1660, on a moonless night, Gallo d’Arenzano arrived with his fleet and attempted a landing in search of loot. In the lookout post on the bell tower of the church of San Giorgio that night Marco Arzellino was on guard who, fearing falling asleep, had tied himself to the bell rope. As luck would have it, he really fell asleep and made the bell ring just as the pirates disembarked and were then put to flight by citizens who rushed in arms. According to legend, instead, to call the inhabitants of Tellaro to the defense of the village was a giant octopus that clung to the ropes of the bells that came out of the wind.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 4

  The Groppolo or Groppolo beach is the small beach that is part of the beaches of Tellaro; a series of hidden coves and not easily accessible, only by sea or along little-marked and steep paths, which are located in the eastern part of the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia. The beach is about 50 meters long, it is dark sand, without shade, closed to the east by Punta Groppolo, a large rock that is wedged into the sea. Beyond the rocky outcrop, the small breast continues, however, occupied by the landslide movement.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 5
  Isola del Tino

  The island of Tino, the western end of the Gulf of La Spezia, along with Portovenere and the other islands Palmaria and Tinetto, has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1997. A perimeter of about two kilometers encloses the 127,000 square meters of the island, lush for the mixed forest of pines and holm oaks that over the centuries has supplanted the previous olive and vine crops, dating back to the time of the settlements of Benedictine monks. An inaccessible and elevated cliff surrounds the island from the west making it inaccessible and, at the same time, strategic. The extreme tip of eastern Liguria, a natural lighthouse stretching out towards the Mediterranean. San Venerio, born on the island of Palmaria and patron saint of the Gulf of La Spezia, retired as a hermitage on the island until his death. Legend has it that he lit fires to indicate the course to the sailors. For this reason, he is patron saint of taillighters and his example continues today, as evidenced by the lighthouse on the top of the cliff.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 6
  Isola Palmaria

  The island Palmària, with its area of 1.89 square km is the largest island in the Liguria region. Since 1997, the island, along with the other islands of Tino and Tinetto and Portovenere, has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The island has a triangular shape: the sides facing Portovenere and the Gulf of La Spezia are the most anthropized. The west-facing side of the island, facing the open sea, is characterized by high cliffs overlooking the water. On the island there are also many military buildings of great historical interest including, at Punta Scuola, the armored tower Umberto I which had two 400 mm guns, that is, with the largest caliber for the time, for the defense of the gulf. Noteworthy, in the southern part of the island called Pozzale, the quarry now abandoned and used once for the extraction of the precious black marble with golden streaks called Portoro.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 7
  Grotta di Byron

  Among the natural places in the territory of Portovenere is famous the sea caves of Byron (Cala dell'Arpaia). Just past the channel of Porto Venere, towards Riomaggiore, there is a stretch of sea protected by the rocky outcrop on which stands the church of S.Peter on one side, and the ancient walls of the garrison on the other; the sea cavity has a minimum depth of five meters and a maximum of twenty along the side. It takes its name from the English poet George Gordon Byron who drew inspiration and meditation from this place for his literary works and because it seems he landed there after the swimming crossing of the Gulf of La Spezia, from Lerici to Porto Venere.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 8
  Le ROSSE

  The term Le Rosse identifies the spectacular cliffs located on the stretch of coast between Portovenere and Riomaggiore, precisely in Albana. The cliffs owe their deep red color to the strong presence of iron oxide in the ammonite rock and are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site that includes Porto Venere, the Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto islands and the Cinque Terre. They can be reached mainly by sea, while access by land is extremely rare since it is via very steep and extremely challenging paths that start from the village of Campiglia and not recommended unless you are very prepared for the most complicated routes. The area is renowned for snorkeling, especially around the Galera rock, and diving thanks to the crystal clear waters that contrast with the color of the rocks.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 9

  The beach of Persico, located in the Tramonti area, is a wild cove of stones, about 200m long, known for its crystal clear water, deep seabed and uncontaminated environment, enclosed between imposing cliffs such as Le Rosse and the beach of Navone which is the extension of the beach of Persico, along the coast semi interrupted by a landslide into the sea, an extension that reaches the airport of Schiara. If you don't arrive by sea the access is challenging, taking about 40 minutes on foot downhill from Campiglia, with the ascent lasting from 1.5 hours to 2 hours on a path without shade or shelters with very steep slopes. It is an ideal beach for those seeking tranquility and snorkeling, but requires suitable shoes and good physical preparation if you do not arrive by boat.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 10
  Scoglio Ferale

  The Ferale rock is a pyramidal sandstone rock that emerges for a height of 30 meters and has a perimeter of about 100 meters, off the coast between Portovenere and Riomaggiore. The rock is also called Rocca Gagliarda, because it is placed in a sheltered position with respect to the currents of Libeccio. This name, however, seems to be connected to an ancient legend: the Countess Gagliarda, in love with the young Leandro, on the way between La Spezia and Tramonti that would bring her to him, fell from the boat and drowned in the sea right in front of the Scoglio Ferale. On full moon nights it is said that the silhouette of the boat that plies the waters is still sighted. In the area of the rock diving is carried out, given the particular richness of marine fauna and flora and the crystal clear waters.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 11
  Monesteroli

  Halfway between Riomaggiore and Portovenere, stands Monesteroli, a small group of stone houses overlooking the cliff. Its position and the ancient air that you breathe make it a small corner of uncontaminated paradise between the blue of the sea and the green of the Mediterranean scrub. Inaccessible by land, except through a path in the woods and a long staircase called the Grand Staircase : more than 1200 sandstone steps built centuries ago by the farmers of the Cinque Terre and today considered a “monument to human fatigue”. If you reach Monesteroli by sea, you arrive at a cave where a source of drinking water flows that generates 45 liters per minute. Fresh and very cold water that flows into the sea creating a surprising color contrast, because the temperature difference of the spring water numbs the crystal clear sea, but contrasts the heat of the bathers who enter the tunnel of the spring with curiosity and sense of adventure.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 12

  This coast never ceases to amaze and after the inaccessible and secret beaches and corners of paradise we find the bozi of Punta Pineda, that is, pools, natural seawater pools, a real jewel of the La Spezia coast. Isolated, difficult to reach, the characteristic of Punta Pineda pools is that the rocks create a natural barrier behind which there are real natural pools, where sea water enters creating a suggestive pool effect (in the past used to obtain salt from sea water). These green pools in the rock are located under the Borgo dei Campi, in the protected area of the Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore), and can be reached by a challenging, steep and uncovered path in many passages; the end of the path becomes a steep staircase that runs along the edge of a landslide and meets the cellars of Pineda and then continue with difficulty towards the sea. Reaching them from the sea is for few.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 13
  Portovenere

  Portovenere rises at the southern end of a promontory, which, detached from the jagged coastline of the eastern Ligurian Riviera, forms the western shore of the Gulf of La Spezia. In 1997 Portovenere, together with the islands Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Latin name of the village (Veneris Portus) derives from the temple dedicated to the goddess Venus Ericina, which stood on the same site on which today is the church of San Pietro. The dedication to Venus was probably linked to the fact that, according to myth, the goddess was born from the foam of the sea, abundant just below that promontory. A popular holiday resort and destination for artists and writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, among its most famous visitors was Lord Byron who gives his name to a cave in Cala dell'Arpaia for the inspiration and meditation he drew in this place for his literary works.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Tags