Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
7am-8pm)
Inside La
Cinque Terre Park Office
(
0187 74 35 00; internet access per 10min €0.80;
Spezia's train station.
Tourist Office
(
www.aptcinqueterre.sp.it
;
Viale Giuseppe Mazzini 47;
9am-1pm & 2.30-5.30pm Mon-
Sat, to 1pm Sun)
Getting There & Away
Porto Venere (€1.50, approximately every 30 minutes) and Lerici (€1.50, approximately
every 15 minutes). Catch buses on Via Domenico Chiodo close to the intersection with
Via del Prione.
La Spezia is on the Genoa-Rome railway line and is also connected to Milan (€26.50,
three hours, four daily), Turin (€27.50, 3½ hours, several daily) and Pisa (€5.20, 50
minutes, almost hourly). The Cinque Terre and other coastal towns are easily accessible
by train and boat.
Porto Venere
POP 3942
If Cinque Terre were ever to pick up an honorary sixth member, Porto Venere would
surely be it. Perched on the Gulf of Poets' western promontory, the village's sinuous sev-
en- and eight-storey harbourfront houses form an almost impregnable citadel around the
muscular Castello Doria. The Romans built Portus Veneris as a base en route from Gaul to
Spain, and in later years the Byzantines, Lombards, Genovese and Napoleon all passed
through here. Cinque Terre's marathon-length Sentiero Rosso (Red trail) to Levanto starts
here, just behind the castle. Hikers, take a deep breath…
Sights
Outside the hectic summer season, Porto Venere is something of a ghost town - and all the
more alluring for it.
Castello Doria
(admission €2.20; 10.30am-1.30pm & 2.30-6pm)
No one knows when the original castle was
built, though the current structure - a formidable example of Genoese military architec-
ture - dates from the 16th century. A highly strategic citadel in its time, it once stood on
CASTLE
