ITALY
Portofino, Splendid(o) Gulf & Golf

by R. Bourne & C. Jaricott

Liguria's geographical position in North-western Italy, its mild climate and pleasant landscapes have made it a successful attraction for international seaside tourism. And on the world-known unspoiled promontory of Portofino, the Hotel Splendido is the pearl of the crown. 

Portifino October 2002 - It is said that Christopher Colombus (born in 1451 in Genoa under his real Ligurian name of Cristoforo Colombo) has sailed during his childhood along Portofino and Rapallo as a young sailer before living the country to discover America in 1492 under his Spanish name Amiral Cristobal Colon.

Genoa, the ancient maritime city, has become one of the most industrial Mediterranean harbour. And all along the Ligurian coast, there are small holiday resorts which, though themselves endowed with works of art, have only developed alongside the famous holiday resorts. The development of tourism has improved amenities and infrastructures but not without damage to the environment, only now the object of energetic measures of conservation.

But the authentic character of the region can still be found in the quiet corners of certain seaside villages or in the rare coves still unaltered by the hands of man. In the Cinque Terre, where vines are grown on artificial terracing, an unusual method of cultivation, a group of picturesque fishing villages clinging to a rocky coastline, cars are banned. Such is still Portofino, nearby Rapallo.

Monks which, in any religion, are known for always settling in superb natural sites, discovered in the years 1200 that Portofino was one of those special places where to pray God in a beautiful and peaceful environment.

But the monastery was attacked with such frequency in the sixteenth century by Saracen pirates that the monks abandoned it to the sheep that roamed the coastal hills. In the nineteenth century, Baron Baratta revived the wreck, converting it into a family summer house. In 1901 Mr. Ruggero Valentini, pioneer of tourism at Portofino, transformed Villa Baratta into the Grand Hotel Splendid which was bought and renovated by Orient-Ecpress Hotels in 1985. But since the beginning the hotel has played host to the most famous and noble families in Europe and the cream of the international jet-set.

And in 1931, Circolo golf & tennis open an 18-hole golf course at Rapallo to the greatest satisfaction of new invaders : international golfers.

    Where to play
     What to see
     Where to stay
     Information

Liguria is north-western province of Italy and Genova its capital where

Christopher Colombus was born in 1451. In his chilhood, he sailed along

the extraordinary promontory of Portofino
at the time when Hotel

Splendido was monastery
and Portofino fisher village