Portovenere

Once the core of the mighty Roman Empire, and the cradle of the Renaissance, it is also home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world, including high art and monuments. Italy is famous for its delicious cuisine, it's trendy fashions, luxury sports cars and motorcycles, diverse regional cultures and dialects, as well as for its various sceneries from the seas to the Alps and Apennines, all reasons why it got nickcoded Il Bel Paese (the Beautiful Country). One of the great things about Italy is that its long thin shape means that when you get fed up with sightseeing you are often a relatively short distance from a beach. In many of the more popular areas, large sections of beach are reserved as paid beaches. Italy is full of differents cultures you can see: Etruscan Italy, The Greek influence, Roman ruins, Christian Italy, The Byzantine cities and The Renaissance.

Italy

Consisting mostly of mountains and wooded hills that will delight hikers, it leads abruptly to the sea via a steep, craggy coastline interspersed with coves. The many tourist sites on the coast (including Portofino and Sanremo) together make up the Italian Riviera, a key spot for recreation and luxury beach resorts. The small towns with their narrow winding streets, fortresses and palaces remind visitors of the glories of the region's history. This is the birthplace of pesto (a sauce made from basil and pine nuts) and of focaccia.

Liguria

The Church of San Lorenzo, also known as Sanctuary of Madonna Bianca, is a Catholic religious building located in the municipality of Porto Venere, between via della Chiesa and piazza San Lorenzo, in the province of La Spezia. © iStock /AGaeta

Church of San Lorenzo, Portovenere

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