Dear Reader,
this part has as its aim, to bring to the fore some of the illustrious personages that have lived on or visited the coast that is the subject of this book. I mention but a few and this is not to be taken as a discrimination towards those not mentioned. Some are very well known, others less so… Howerer we don’t know much about their contacts with Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure and Italian Riviera.
It may seem peculiar to reduce to the period of time spent on this coast, (attimes very brief) what there could be to say about these persons. They came to study, for inspiration, for relaxation, for tourism, or perhaps even for some mischief.
However, may be it will not displease the reader to record their appearance however fleeting; to visit with artists, philosophers, and scientists, not to mention leaders, kings, and queens of different historic periods, all of whom at one time or another touched down on some point along the coast that stretches from the point of Portofino to the shore of Pagana and Rapallo.
This riviera, I do not hesitate to say, is one of the most beautiful in the world.
The amenities of this area favored on these shores the rise of great residences in which some of the persons I will remember, stayed. They are among the richest in art and history. The characters, the events and the places are reported here onli in “flash” according to chronological order. Starting then from the very distant past, of which we unfortunately have less reliable testimony, to arrive at the present we must revisit different historic periods.
In anticipation of those who are lovers of more exhaustive profiles, we remind you that this is not an academic work.
Over the course of history many famous people have visited Liguria, but until the second half of the last century the real destination was Genoa. The rest of the region was difficult to reach because of the impassable obstacles by land. One arrived for the most part by boat.
Many of these famous persons landed by boat on the coast solely because of bad conditions at sea. A few courageous others adventured over the mountain paths. Then, conditions of communication being improved, in the second half of the nineteenth century and in the twentieth, many other important figures, we will mention only a few, came and soon word of the exclusive beauty of the region spread and others began to flock here. Some, realizing the hospitality of the inhabitants stayed for quite some time.
Anyway, in this part, we will try to present some of our guest of the past.
With love from Portofino.
Portofino World Site, a world apart.
