PORTOVENERE
Size: 13 x 11 inches (33×28 centimeters) Hardcover Dust Jacket
Front cover: Esther
Creations by Ocean Shelling
Models: Cleo & Esther
Photography © by Massimo Conti
www.massimo-conti.com
Production: Ocean Shelling | Yachting & Surf Wear
mC | Limited Editions
Copyright © 2009 by Ocean Shelling | Yachting & Surf Wear
www.oceanshelling.com
All rights reserved

Portovenere
Introduction
Ocean Shelling find inspiration from the pastel colors of the Portovenere’s houses to create its new
collection of yachting and surf wear.
An enchanting journey in the waters where according to legend, was born Venus (in Italian
Venere).the Roman Goddess associated with love, beauty and fertility.
A wonderful walking between ancient roman walls along little streets … breathing sea wind.

A view of Portovenere from Palmaria

PORTOVENERE
The ancient Portus Veneris is believed to date back to at least the middle of the first century BCE. It
has been said that the name refers to a temple to the goddess Venus (Venere) which was sited on the
promontory where the church of Peter the Apostle now stands.
The name has also been linked to that of the hermit Saint Venerius.
In Roman times the city was essentially a fishing community.
The ancient walls
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Portovenere became the base of the Byzantine fleet in
the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, but was destroyed by the Lombards in 643 CE. Later, it was a frequent
target of Saracen raids. First indications of the existence of a castle date from 1113, and in 1161 the
walls were erected. Portovenere became a fiefdom of a family from Vezzano before passing to
Genoa in the early twelfth century. In 1494, it suffered a devastating bombardment from the
Aragonese fleet during their war with Genoa: subsequently the old part of the town declined in
importance, giving way to the development of the Borgo Nuovo (\"New District\"), which had
existed from 1139 and is centred on the church of St. Peter.

Porto Venere is known above all for its landscape features: the tower-houses leaning one against the
other and forming a multicolored group of buildings were built in the first half of the 12th century
by the Genoese to transform the ancient Roman \"portus\" in the fortified outpost of their eastern
border. These houses give the town a uniqueness which has transformed it into a famous tourist
destination.
The Tower-houses
The particular outline of the village and the small S. Pietro church clinging to the top of the rocky
promontory overhanging the sea are set in a natural frame of unquestionable beauty and have
always delighted poets, artists, and travellers. Anyway, not everyone is aware of the scientific
importance of this area, which was the theater of important experiments and research activities. As
a matter of fact, Porto Venere had already been chosen in the second half of the 18th century by the
naturalist Lazzaro Spallanzani as a base for his research activities: he defined it in his diaries
\"unique in Europe\" and \"... very adequate to satisfy the needs of eager researchers for the almost
continuous peace characterizing it\".
One century later, the geologist and paleontologist Giovanni Capellini highlighted how Naturalists
coming from all over the world to celebrate the jubilee of the zoological station in Naples,
\"expressly recognized that the first zoological station was in Porto Venere\" in the house - a
monastery at that time, then town hall, today a hotel - where Spallanzani used to study marine
animals and carry out experiments on them, without neglecting important ornithological, botanical,
and geological remarks.

The establishment of Parco Naturale Regionale di Porto Venere and its archipelago (Regional Law
no. 30 of 03/09/2001), including a Marine Conservation Area, confirms after two centuries the
naturalistic value of the area, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The terrestrial protected area includes not only the historical village center, but also the western
coastline up to Albana Valley (here the territory of Tramonti begins, bordering with 5 Terre
National Park), as well as Palmaria, Tino, and Tinetto Islands. Despite its rather reduced area, 398
ha (including islands and mainland) and 3 km for the Marine Conservation Area, Porto Venere
Regional Park is characterized by naturalistic features involving various disciplines: geology,
speleology, paleontology, botany, ornithology, herpetology, and of course, marine biology.
A view of Muzzerone from Portovenere
Leaving from Albana Valley, we meet the so-called \"Reds\", that is rocks whose characteristic color
is given by the presence of fossil ammonites; beyond them, it is possible to admire the charming
cliffs overhanging the sea, forming the famous Muzzerone practice wall, busy with climbers
coming from all over the world for its various climbing opportunities (there are itineraries with
various levels of difficulty) and the uniqueness of the uncontaminated landscape context.

Ocean Shelling
Yachting & Surf Wear

Feel free to contact us if you wish photos and texts on the new collection
Ocean Shelling
oceanshelling@gmail.com
www.oceanshelling.com
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