A wonderful holiday between… Cinque Terre and Portofino - santa margherita ligure portofino uk

Santa Margherita Ligure Santa Margherita Ligure has been defined “an elegant society salon in the Riviera di Levante”. Larger than Portofino and Camogli, the town is located about 40 Km from Genoa in a wonderful bay between Rapallo and Portofino. It is a well-known sea resort with a modern harbour. The first historical document about Santa Margherita “Pescino” dates back to the 12th Century: we find two different towns, Pescino and Corte. Santa Margherita has been for Centuries fee of Fieschi Family until it was dominated by the republic of Genoa (the domination ended in the 18th Century). The two quarters, which had been divided for Centuries where called San Giacomo and Santa Margherita and were reunited in 1812 by Napoleon who named the town Porto Napoleone. This union lasts little time: after the fall of Napoleon’s Empire the city was governed by temporary administrations until in 1863 a decree of the King Vittorio Emanuele II united the town with the name of Santa Margherita Ligure. The town is typically Ligurian, with its narrow roads going through coloured houses and its deep vegetation hiding luxurious villas, symbol of the power and of the richness of the town. From a tourist point of view worth a visit is the Spring Festival which has been taking place in Santa Margheritaevery year for 30 years in the week before 21st March; this festival takes place in the “Ghiaia” seafront, where the inhabitants offer to the visitors every kind of fritters. In the evening they light some fires on the beachto remember the ancientfires that were burnt to throw of winter and to welcome spring. Between Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure there is the small hamlet of Paraggi that offers to the tourists a golden sandy beach.