_ PORTOFINO. 365 



of blood}^ conflicts. For instance at the time of those 

 murderous and fratricidal wars between Pisa, Genoa and 

 Venice, when Guelfs and Ghibellines contended for this 

 harbour which was of such strategic importance. On 

 February 1st, 1,]12, the tliirty Genoese and Pisan Galleys, 

 bearing the Emperor Henr^' \'II and his arm-\- to Tus- 

 cany, passed through Porto-fin; and G. Poggi supposes 

 that Dante Alighieri must have been on board one of 

 them. Conradin, King of Sicily, Odoardo, Duke of 

 Parma, and Richard, King of England, also stopped 

 here. From 1800 to 1815 French, English, Spanish and 

 Austrians fought for the possession of this harbour, and 

 Napoleon, when at last he felt sure of his prize, caused 

 Portofino to be called after himself in a decree dated 

 January 2nd, 181.^. 



From the Madonna del Capo, whose statue stands 

 on the extreme point ol the promontory, we can see far 

 along the coast eastward to the distant island of Pal- 

 maria. Santa Margherita, Rapallo, Zoagli, Chiavari and 

 Sestri Levante succeed one another on this beautful gulf. 

 We are onh' an hour's eas\- walk from Santa Margherita, 

 and we can overlook the road to it which ^\•inds along 

 the hill shaded bj- old Evergreen Oaks and Pines. Half 

 way to .Santa Margherita, on a wooded slope, lies the 

 ancient monastery of Cervara whose jealousy had once 

 been so disastrous to the Abbey of San Fruttuoso. The 

 young Genoese priest, Lanfranco, had founded this monas- 

 tery in 1361. It enjoyed the patronage of his con- 

 temporary, Guido Settimo of Genoa — a friend of 

 Petrarch's — who spent the last }-ears of his life here 



