Portofino was Roman Portus Delphini, a Genoese naval outpost, and a Napoleonic prize long before it was a yacht harbour. Three days trace its defensive towers, its 11th-century abbey, and the British consuls who invented the myth.
Built as a Genoese fortress guarding the harbour mouth, documented from 1425 and rebuilt after the 1554 Franco-Turkish assault. Bought in 1867 by British consul Montague Yeats-Brown, who converted it to a villa. Open 10:00-19:00 summer.
Founded in the 12th century on the promontory ridge, the church holds relics said to be brought back from the Holy Land by Portofino crusaders in 1154. Rebuilt after Allied bombing destroyed it in 1944; the current fabric is a 1950 reconstruction.
The lighthouse stands on the Punta del Capo headland where Roman-era signal fires once marked Portus Delphini, named by Pliny the Elder. The paved cliff path from San Giorgio takes about 20 minutes each way past wartime gun emplacements.
The 14th-century oratory of the Confraternita dei Disciplinanti, containing the medieval processional crucifixes carried by the flagellant brotherhood and a Byzantine-influenced Madonna. The bell tower overlooks the piazzetta from behind.
Benedictine abbey founded in the 10th century over the tomb of Saint Fructuosus, with a 13th-century Doria family crypt and Romanesque cloister. Reachable only by boat or two-hour trail. Open 10:00-17:45 in summer, run by FAI.
The 16th-century watchtower Andrea Doria added to the abbey complex after Saracen raids devastated the coast. Its rooftop terrace held signal fires that relayed warnings to Portofino and Camogli in a chain of coastal towers.
A 12th-century Genoese fortress on the rock above Camogli's port, expanded in the 1500s against Barbary corsairs. Camogli supplied the Republic's merchant fleet — its Museo Marinaro next door documents the 1815-1880 shipping boom.
The quay was rebuilt under the Savoy monarchy and named for Umberto I. Portofino's inlet sheltered the Genoese galley fleet, was seized by Napoleon in 1797, and served as a German Kriegsmarine anchorage until 1945.
A 17th-century Genoese noble villa built in 1560 for the Durazzo family, with a baroque interior, period furniture and a formal Italianate garden. The Durazzo were doges of the Republic; the villa shows what Ligurian aristocracy looked like inland.
Consecrated in 1658 and rebuilt in high Ligurian baroque after 1750, with gilt stucco, Flemish crucifixes and relics of the town's patron. It replaced a medieval church destroyed when Turkish raiders sacked the coast in 1549.
A patrician villa housing the Fondazione Cordero collection and rotating exhibitions on Ligurian history. Rapallo hosted the 1920 and 1922 treaties that redrew post-war Europe — the town's diplomatic moment is documented here.
The sea castle was built in 1551 directly on a harbour rock after Dragut's corsairs sacked Rapallo in 1549 and carried off 100 residents. It served as a prison into the 19th century and now hosts exhibitions in its single vaulted hall.