Italy - Lerici guide

16 Pages·2002·1.62 MB·English

TOWN
MUNICIPALITY
DI LERICI
AZIENDA DI PROMOZIONE TURISTICA
FREE COPY
TOWN
MUNICIPALITY
DI LERICI
L E R I C I
Lerici a Medieval Port
In the twelfth century Lerici was already a maritime port of call and an important
trading centre. The three destinations of the medieval pilgrims from the north
towards Rome and Jerusalem, and in the opposite direction towards Santiago de Cam-
postela, became sea journeys from this point. Dante talks about Lerici in his Purga-
tory, Bocaccio sets the final scene of one of his novellas here and Petrarch chooses
the fortissimus Eryxas the home of the goddess Athena, who discovered olive oil. The
medieval town of Lerici is built upon the promontory which juts into the sea ending
in the massive structure of the castle. It was fought over by the Maritime Republic of
Genoa, which held the stronghold of Porto Venere, and by the Maritime Republic of
Pisa, which, for a brief period (1241-1256), made it its most advanced outpost to the
north in its defence system. The town was the venue for important peace negotiations,
economic agreements and the centre of the salt trade; it also served as the port for
1
2 3
1) Piazza Garibaldi
2) Salita Arpara
3) Tipical “carobbio” (alley)
4) The port of Lerici in a fifteenth century print
4
2
Lucca, whose merchants preferred to use it for their The devotion to S. Rocco,the pil-
commerce of fabrics and silks with France rather grim going to Rome portrayed
than the dangerous coast of Tuscany, controlled by with the pilgrim’s typical tools, a
Pisa. As one ascends from the Calata (the Slope) staff, shell and money-bag, is
one sees the interesting Jewish Ghetto, which was a testified by the oratory bearing the
settlement of merchants originally from Leghorn; same name in Largo Marconi, a
then one sees the via del Revellino, the fortified baroque building with a gothic
walls of the castle, the salita (uphill road) Arpara, style bell tower and a vaguely
the name comes from the late medieval toponym oriental style polyhedric spire,
meaning “place where the hawks make their nests”, which has recently been restored.
the Vico de’ Pisani, the small squarePoggio and the
square of San Giorgio, opposite the castle entrance.
3
The Castle of San Giorgio The fortified town of Lerici underwent numerous changes from the twelfth to
(Saint George) the sixteenth century. Initially there was the slender solitary tower within the
perimetre of the castle and now the tower consists of two buildings, an inter-
nal pentagonal one and a hesagonal one, separated by a space about two
metres wide. In 1555, during the Corsican war – “as the Turcs and the French
were ravaging the coast of the Republic of Genoa” – as a few headstones
document, extensions were carried out and massive walls, in some areas eight
metres thick, were built to cover the slender medieval structure. In the heart of
the castle there is the austere chapel dedicated to Sant’Anastasia,a precious
example of the ligurian gothic architecture of the same period as the façade of
San Lorenzo in Genoa; on its architrave an inscription documents the recon-
quest of Lerici (then under Pisa) by the Genoese (thirteenth century).
1 3
1) The castle of San Giorgio
2) A chromolithography by T. Cook Moore, 1850
(S. Agostino bibliography library in La Spezia)
3) View of the castle
4) The church of San Rocco seen from the port
2 4
4
The castle housed a Youth Hostel Palazzo Doria is thus called because it was the dwelling
and hosted several cultural events, place of the admiral Andrea Doria. In 1528, in this buil-
but now, following the discovery of ding, he transferred his allegiance from Francis I (France)
to Charles V (Spain). The central body of the building dates
dinosaur tracks in the area, it has
back to the Middle Ages; it was the seat of the Hospital of
become the seat of the Museum of
Saint Peter and Paul and the pilgrims used to lodge there
Geopalaeontology.The museum is in on their way to the sacred places. For centuries its nearness
the interior and also in the courtyard to the port (the present Piazza Garibaldi) and to the castle
of the castle, and has very modern made it the ideal place for diplomatic rendez-vous and
structures and techniques (robotic military agreements. Once the renovation work is comple-
ted, the Doria Museum will exhibit, besides its own artistic
simulation, multimedia navigation,
and historic wealth (statues, bas-reliefs, headstones), archi-
reproduction of scenes and environ-
ves which date from the eighteenth century and it will host
ments with the use of dioramas). cultural shows and meetings.
5 6 7
5) The tracks of dinosaurs found in the
area of Montemarcello
6) Ceratosaurus
7) View of the castle terrace towards
Porto Venere
8) Vulcanodon
9) Vico de’ Pisani
10)The chapel of S. Anastasia
8 9 10
5
«We drive along this delightful bay However, besides the economic and strategic importance of these areas, there is also
in the evening wind, under another aspect which makes them unique: their natural beauty, together with the mild-
the summer moon, until earth ness of the climate, appeals to the feelings of those who arrive here. At the beginning of
appears another world» the nineteenth century the English poets Percy B. Shelley (together with his wife Mary,
(Percy B. Shelley) the clever creator of Frankenstein), and George G. Byron, were drawn to these areas not
only to find physical well-being, but also by the romantic concept of travel for intellec-
tual and spiritual fulfilment. Numerous poets and writers chose these areas throughout
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The gulf of Lerici, initially a way-station for the
1) The Castle of San Terenzo
medieval pilgrims, became a centre of art and the cradle of poetry, as a consequence in
2) View of the park of Villa Marigola
3) Sem Benelli’s Tower 1919 the dramatist Sem Benelli, who wrote part of his most famous work (La cena delle
4) Villa Magni beffe)in the small tower of Villa Marigola, called it the Poets’ Gulf, the name by which
5) San Terenzo as seen by the painter P.D. Cambiaso it is nowadays universally known. Here in the nineteenth century the French writer Geor-
1 2 3
The literary call of the Poets’ Gulf has its point of
reference close to the White House also said the
Magni House, the Shelleys’ residence. In the small
but elegant late medieval castle of San Terenzo,
where a multimedia Museum dedicated to Mary
and Percy Shelley is now being created. It will be
the centre of a series of cultural itineraries which
will go from the western part of the gulf to La Spe-
zia as far as the coast near Viareggio. The poet died
in that coastal area.
4 5
6
ge Sandlived a chapter of her love story with Alfred de
Musset. At the beginning of the twentieth century the
German Frieda von Richthofenand the English author of
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, David H. Lawrence, also found “Böcklin painted
a haven for their love story in these parts. The same hap- here; everything
pened to Annie Vivantiwith Giosué Carducci. This was seems like a Böck-
true also for Gabriele D’Annunzio, and for the writer lin landscape, in
Emma d‘Orczy, author of La Primula Rossa(The Scarlet the most beautiful
Pimpernel), who had the villa La Padulabuilt at the Bel- and romantic style
lavista. In our time Lerici has been chosen as the resi- of the nineteenth
dence of Valentino Bompiani, La Serra by Giovanni Giu- century.”
dici, Tellaro by Mario Soldatiand by Attilio Bertolucci. (Klaus Mann)
6 7 8
6) Tellaro
7) Fiascherino
8) Park of Villa Marigola
9) The “Pink House” in
Fiascherino where the poet
David H. Lawrence lived.
9
7
“Oh blessed beaches
where love, freedom and dreams
have no chains”
(Ceccardo R.Ceccardi)
8
S. Terenzo
Beneath the waters of the Caletta COLOMBO Swimming resort places
BAIA LIDO
(Cove) the remains of a Roman ship
BLU
with a marble column were found.
For this reason the bay is also an Lerici
interesting underwater archeologi-
cal site. CAI CMCAIRLELO EDCEOL MARE
Fiascherino
SENATORE
Tellaro
9