Get back to nature

"To those who come from the sea appears in lido porto di Venere and here in the hills that cloaks the olive is fame that even Minerva forget for such sweetness Athena, her homeland ..."

It is with these verses that Petrarch in 1338 celebrated Portovenere, still considered as "the miracle" of the Gulf of La Spezia.
The boatyard with the archipelago of islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto is part of the Regional National Park of Porto Venere, a stretch of coast recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site together with the Cinque Terre National Park.
The landscapes of the Park are represented by steep cliffs, sea, rocky islands and numerous caves that have inspired poets such as George Byron, Petrarch and Eugenio Montale.
Is faced with this dramatic landscape presents itself in all its greatness and grandeur the largest of all the islands of the archipelago of La Spezia, the Palmaria.

The island has a unique triangular shape defined by two main sides: the Eastern Mediterranean vegetation covered Southwest and characterized by high and rugged cliffs overlooking the water.
It can easily be reached by taxi boats or ferries that bring many tourists to the small dock at Terrizzo.
Once you reach the island there are many alternatives.
You can enjoy the qiuete that surrounds the magical atmosphere of the island lulled by the gentle and repetitive waves ranging and crashed against the rocky coasts.
For people that want to explore and discover the treasures of the island but not overexert you can visit the island from the outside thanks to the availability of various means which accomplish turns and small excursion around the island.
But the possibilities don't end there.
Many are tourists who want to delve into the heart of vegetation and therefore for them are available various paths that hide marvelous sights, the sight of well 500 species of plants and trees and why not of fun moments with your family or with the gaiety and brilliance of the sea.

For the lazy ones, you can circumnavigate the Palmaria from outside, there are several tours to fall in love with it from a different perspective. Take a look here.

One of the most popular routes and selected is what along a path not too steep and repaired by dense vegetation arrive at Summit; There is then a more plodding but therefore faster than the so-called "path of the doomed" that sio climbs decided in dense forest.
The route lasts about one hour and is starting at the top that the tour is nothing short of spectacular.
It starts to go down on the South West side overlooking the island of Tino.
It is at this point that the main aspects of the Mediterranean flora make their triumphant entrance: you can observe and enjoy a large variety of species such as pines, the Oaks, the brooms and the Oaks.
About fioristici elements is necessary to mention rare orchid species, like the white cefalanterna cimicina Orchid, barlia,; a real peculiarity is the cornflower and fescue.

Once at the bottom you can see the old disused Portoro marble extraction, white limestone cliffs in which cavities have been found fossils of considerable interest.

Going back over the top or along the cliff returns to the starting point perhaps accompanied by a sunset still shy and a calm sea ready to rest like the rest of us walkers!

I leave you with a sentence by Pliny the elder that summarizes the most of what surrounds this magical island and in general the nature: "nature is big in the big things, but it is great in small"

Elena Tonelli

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Face to face with nature

Portovenere e l'Isola Palmaria

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