On the eastern side of the extreme point of the Peninsula of Portofino is a narrow, curved creek, which Nature would seem to have taken under her special protection.
Though the sea may beat with all its fury against the promontory’s conglomerate cliffs, the strength of its waves is almost spent ere they break upon the little semicircular beach of this favoured cove.
The cold winds which sometimes blow from the mountains are powerless, too, to harm it, since it is enclosed, on one side by the thickly-wooded ridge of the peninsula, and on its two other sides by high hills, densely clad with olives.
Within this remarkably sheltered spot lies Portofino, with its houses arranged in curves along the quays and in front of its narrow lido as snug and as sunny a little port as ever a mariner could desire, and so picturesque that I know not where you would find a prettier.
A row of multi-coloured boats are drawn up on to the beach, in front of which is a little piazza, The Worldwide famous Piazzetta, planted with acacias.
On one side of this square are the porticos (indispensable to every Italian town) where the lace-makers, during the hot days of summer, sit plying their bobbins with marvellous rapidity, and the old boatmen seek shade and repose.
Then comes the graceful curve of the narrower of the two quays, bordered by houses with pink and yellow façades and green shutters. Seen from an open space opposite the church of San Giorgio, which stands on the high ground of the peninsula, overlooking, on the one hand, the harbour, and on the other, the open sea, this piazza, and above it the green hillside, these portici, these fishermen’s houses, bathed in sunlight, and their reflections in the usually still water of the harbour, form a picture of incomparable beauty.
Landscape beauty is not limited, however, to this one little nook of the peninsula of Portofino.
If you follow the pathways which wind up and down among the olives that cover the hills on all sides, you cannot fail to discover many charming and unexpected points of view.
There is one walk which is obligatory. It takes you, skirting the grounds of the Castle of Portofino and the gardens of the fine villas which occupy all the most favourable positions on the sheltered side of the peninsula, to the far end of the promontory.
There, high above the sea-a lovely turquoise blue, save where it churns itself into foam against the base of the cliffs -you have, in one direction, an uninterrupted vista of water and sky, in another a view of the distant Bay of Rapallo, with the dark forms of maritime pines overhanging the sea in the foreground, and in the distance the hills above the coast, which throughout the day, owing to varying effects of light, is ever changing in aspect.
The poet and the painter could find no more ideal spot than this pineclad point to sit and watch the rising and setting of the sun, the marvellous cloud effects which make the sky a never-tiring picture from morning until night, and the curious changes which are wrought by light and shadow on the surface of the sea.
Though Portofino possesses a castello, with stout towers of decidedly warlike aspect, I can hardly picture it as a scene of strife.
Has its quiet ever been disturbed by war’s alarms?
I know not; and I shall not seek to discover if its history has been one of battlecries and bloodshed. Let us think of it as solely a place of gentle deeds, a spot off the beaten track which has escaped the turmoil of history, a welcome haven of refuge; as it was, indeed, to Maria de’ Medici, when rough weather-whilst on her way to France to marry Henry IV-obliged her to put into the port and stop several days there.
The fact that Portofino is a great centre for the making of lace emphasises this idea of its gentleness. The women and girls of the entire district, including Santa Margherita Ligure and Rapallo, devote themselves to this industry, but it is at Portofino that you see it carried on on the most extensive scale.
This artistic occupation adds in no small measure to the picturesqueness of the village.
Portofino World, a world apart.
