The Island of Palmaria in the Golfo dei Poeti, SP, Italy

A few hundred metres off the coast of the town of Portovenere lies Palmaria, the largest of the three islands in the Golfo dei Poeti at 1.9 sq km. The archipelago is part of the same UNESCO world heritage site as Portovenere and the Cinque Terre. We took the little ferry boat over for lunch…

Mary Shelly’s San Terenzo, Frazione of Lerici

San Terenzo is a frazione of Lerici that we often walk to via the waterfront boardwalk from downtown. Mary Shelly, English author best known for Frankenstein and political radical, moved here in 1818 with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelly. She left shortly after his untimely drowning death near Viareggio (just south of here) in 1822.

A Visit to Castelnuovo Magra, SP, Italy

Castelnuovo Magra is a Ligurian hilltop town easily recognizable from the Magra River Valley below. It has a big castle tower on the north side and a big church tower on the south side. We went up and checked it out.