La Marinella - Portovenere/Cinque Terre Area

Accommodates 4 - 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bath

La Marinella is a charming, not-at-all-fancy little cottage right across the street from the seafront in Portovenere, one of the true jewels of the entire Italian coast, lying at the southern end of the Riviera within spitting distance of the legendary Cinque Terre.

Where the hell is Portovenere anyway? It’s not one of the Cinque Terre themselves. Instead, Portovenere is a truly beautiful fishing-village-turned-elegant-summer-resort. Located on the other – that is, on the southeastern – side of the Gulf of La Spezia from the Cinque Terre, Portovenere is gorgeous, with its characteristic castle, Romanesque churches, little harbors and coves, and narrow, multicolored 3- and 4-story houses. And it’s big enough to have all the services you’re likely to need or want, like restaurants, elegant boutiques, banks, drug store, post office, grocery stores, and so on.

Portovenere makes a great base from which to visit not only the Cinque Terre, but also up and down the coast from Genoa, Portofino, and Santa Margherita to the north, to Lerici, Carrara and Pisa to the south.

But we want to emphasize one thing: Portovenere in itself will capture you in the same way Capri does. Even if you sit down at home before your departure and plan a weekful of excursions “out”, one day after another, we guarantee that you’ll find Portovenere so seductive that in the end you’re going to want to be staying close to home and getting immersed in the ordinary life of a real Italian seaside town.

Obviously, however, you will want to do some touring. Can you get around without a car? Yes, you can, but we believe you should probably have one, if only to run errands, food shop, and for inland excursions. Renting a car isn’t cheap, especially when you consider that there will almost certainly be several days when you won’t use it at all. For example, let’s say you’re staying at La Marinella and you want to go to the Cinque Terre for the day. How do you get there? Even if you have a car, you’d be insane to use it. The best way would be to take the frequent bus from Portovenere (about 15-20 minutes) and from there to the Cinque Terre (20-30 minutes depending on which of the Cinque Terre you’re going to). Another beautiful alternative: again take the bus, but this time into Portovenere itself, and from there by boat to the Cinque Terre. Otherwise, you’re looking at minimum 90 minutes of stressful driving and, in the season or on any nice weekend, probably much longer.

In fact, all of the coastal destinations you’re likely to want to explore are reachable most easily without a car: Far easier are the train from La Spezia and the boat from Portovenere. But if you want to go to Lucca for the day, we think the car is best. Also Pisa. Also Carrara. Also the lovely hilltowns inland.

La Marinella itself is the immensely appealing, completely detached guesthouse of its owners’ much larger villa perched above. It has a direct uninterrupted view of the sea from both inside and out: there’s only the little road between the cottage and water’s edge where you can take a swim if you want. Furnishings aren’t fancy – we must emphasize this -- and proportions aren’t large, but it’s a very comfortable place. Living/dining room with TV (Italian channels only); matrimonial bedroom; smaller single bedroom, with extractable “trundle bed”; kitchen with dishwasher and washing machine; bath with shower. Outside, delightful private garden area with olive trees and table and chairs for lounging and outdoor dining.