Splendors of the Italian Riviera

Porto Venere’s Bay of Poets and St. Johns Church. Byron’s Grotto is just below the church but difficult to see

My last post left you in the midst of thunderstorms on the Italian Riviera. But like a worrisome story with a good ending, the next morning was beautiful! All around me lay clear evidence of a rainstorm that had swept away all the old debris and polished my earthly surroundings with a new freshness.
I drove from Chiavari north through the towns of Santa Margherita, Portofino and Camogli. Following are some photos of the stunning Riviera in all its glory….

Crescent Beaches along the Riviera

Most every Riviera town has a Promenade with a continual Passeggiata

Portofino, haunt of the rich and famous 

Shimmering Mediterranean

Bobbing Boats of Camogli

Camogli Basilica on the Harbor 

Stately Villas of Portofino

Sun Splashed Villa 

Porto Venere viewpoint with the Mediterranean behind, where the past and present converge into a timeless beauty that is the Italian Riviera.

“And from then on I bathed in the Poem of the Sea, steeped with stars and foamy as milk….”   Arthur Rimbaud