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Tracks from the Medieval Age

Legends, pirates and vistories from Lerici to Portovenere, passing by the Gulf

During the Middle Ages Lerici was long disputed between Genoa and Pisa for its strategic position.
In fact, the port of Lerici, in addition to being a strategic place for military control, was a travel stop and pilgrimages.
The village is dominated by the castle of St. George, characterized by its pentagonal tower, and its endless stairs that must be traveled to reach the fortress (many people, getting to the castle by now breathless, wondering how many steps they had to climb ... the exact number is 168, but it is useless to deny that once you get to the summit, the effort is rewarded by the beautiful views that offers the scenery!).
Proof of its past in the forefront, the projectiles of catapult: that open entry to visitors of the Castle - almost like a warning!
In 860 the Gulf of Poets was sacked by the Vikings, and in the same century began to suffer the Saracen raids.

According to legend, in the time of the Saracen invasions and pirates, a girl named Martina lived with his father and brother to Ria (a country that precedes Portovenere and then took the name of Le Grazie).
Every day he went to the harbor to await the return of her father and brother by fishing vessels, Martina took the baskets full of fish and sold them on the marina and neighboring countries.
One day sailing ship docked at the marina a Genoese failed. The sailors went down, and between them there was Amilcare, a young boy from his hair and brown eyes. Amilcare approached Martina and from that moment was born the love between the two.
Time passed, and the two were making plans for their future, on marriage and children. But after a few months the ship was finished and one morning all sailors including Amilcare boarded the ship.
That same morning, as she used to, Martina went to the harbor and seeing the beloved ship away, began to run at breakneck speed to Portovenere and come down to the shore, he saw the ship taking the route to Genoa.
In the end the legend says that his ghost still wanders within the walls of Portovenere to wait for the beloved who never returned.

His name is engraved on the plate of a country lane and remains engraved in the collective memory, in fact La Martina is the name of a location between Portovenere and Cinque Terre.
Portovenere, the western end of the Gulf, is characterized by Doria castle, the medieval Church of San Pietro and the mystical Sanctuary of Our Lady Bianca.
Inside the Sanctuary you can see the famous icon of Our Lady Bianca, which includes a curious and intriguing history ...
In 1399 during the French occupation came to a Portovenere without coxswain boat that carried with it the icon of the Madonna Bianca, with the passage of time the beloved icon to all the inhabitants began to lose color, but one day the icon He regained its original color. For all the people on that day a miracle happened.
The icon still resides in the Sanctuary.

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Tracks from the Medieval Age

Legends, pirates and vistories from Lerici to Portovenere, passing by the Gulf

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