In my effort to show my family places I visited in Europe in the 1980’s, we went to Portofino. In 1985, the stop was towards the end of a 7-day Ocean Lines cruise that departed Venice and ended in Nice. What I remember most about Portofino was shopping at Benetton. Remember their advertisements “United Colors of Benetton?” Back then, Benetton stores were all over Europe (some just a few blocks away from each other) much like Starbucks in the US today.
Seriously — that is my first memory: buying a green/white striped Benetton rugby shirt. My second recollection was that I liked the place – the town was on a hill, with brightly colored buildings on the Mediterranean. It was a happy place and I wanted to see it again.
Since Portofino is between Levanto and our hotel in Genoa, we decided to stop there on our way back from visiting the Cinque-Terre. When we first turned off the main highway, we drove through Santa Margarita Ligure, a lively town that reminded me of a smaller version of Monte Carlo.
Motorcycles and cars zoomed everywhere and we saw there was an event going on. It turned out to the 2nd annual Tribute to Carlo Riva, of Riva Yacht fame. The festival highlighted vintage boats. We talked briefly about stopping to walk around but opted to get to Portofino while still daylight instead. If I am ever back in the area, I’d like to explore this town in more detail.
At Portofino, we parked in a deck since the main part of the town is pedestrian only. Nothing looked vaguely familiar but I reminded myself I had seen it from the water, not the land. Very quickly we walked to a spot where we had a view of the water – I remembered this. This is where I had been! This is how I remember it looking!
When we got to the harbor and looked back at the town, I realized it really wasn’t on as big of a hill as I remembered. While there are hills surrounding the town, but the town itself has a slight incline from the water, but nothing like Riomaggiore in the Cinque-Terre. Other than that, it was exactly as I remembered.
The buildings were still painted in the bright colors I remembered. And – I had forgotten this part – the facades are all painted on. You have to walk up to the buildings to see it, but the trim isn’t stucco trim. It’s painted to look like it. Friezes, window frames and sometimes even shutters aren’t real. They are the finest example of Trompe l’Oeil (trick of the eye) that abounds in Italy’s Liguria region.
We decided to eat at restaurant we had passed by. Although it wasn’t on the water, it was off the main street and had delicious Italian food and wine. We enjoyed people watching as an Italian family came to celebrate a birthday at the large table next to us.
Afterwards, we walked back down to the harbor to stroll around and see all the yachts. It’s definitely an area for the rich and famous. Movie stars such as Clark Gable, Rex Harrison and Elizabeth Taylor were frequent visitors, as well as political figures Winston Churchill and Prince Ranier of Monaco. That would explain the high-end shops like Gucci and Chanel we saw.
While we didn’t see any famous people, we did enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of Portofino. Its exclusivity didn’t scream snobbery to us – just quietness and serenity.
