Portofino is a small Italian city located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The city is considered to be among the most beautiful Mediterranean ports, and is a popular tourist destination. Portofino has even been recreated in detail at the Portofino Bay Resort at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
According to Pliny the Elder, Portofino was founded by the Romans and named Portus Delphini, or Port of Dolphins, because of the large number of dolphins that inhabited the Tigullian Gulf . The city's natural harbor provided a safe haven for the growing merchant marine of the growing Republic of Genoa during the Middle Ages. In the early 20th century, first British, then German tourist began to visit Portofino. Eventually they built expensive vacation houses, and by 1950 tourism had supplanted fishing as the city's chief industry.
Aubrey Herbert( 1880-1923) was one of the more famous Englishmen to maintain a villa at Portofino.
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Last updated: 10-23-2005 20:08:40
