There have beenso many pontiffs with the name Gregory that it requires either a prodigious memory or a profound knowledge of the history of the Popes to remember the respective historic periods and the events that they refer to. Of the sixteen Popeswith this name (the first four being saints) Gregory XI, Pietro Roger of Beufort, whom we shall discuss here, was quite important in the history of the church. We are in the 60’s of the fourteenth century: The situation in France is catastrophic as a result of the One Hundred Years War and of the struggles between the Armagnacchi – faithful to the Duke of Orléans, and the Borgognoni – anglophiles. In Italy the situation was dramatic as the rights of the church were being contested by local potentates.

To talk about Nicola Abbagnano means in a certain way to talk about Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino, the cities he chose as his second home and for which he demonstrated his love to the point of leaving in writing his wish to be buried there.

Abbagnano was a swallow who returned to this city every summer from the fog of Padania to rejoice over the sea, the green of the hills, the climate and perhaps even of that unforgettable sunset of Portofino that Andrè Gide called I’heure bleu (the blue hour).

Spring 1953:Truman Capote makes his entrance in Portofino in a red Renault accompanied by Jack Dunphy, his lifetime companion, and a noisy couple of dogs. Together they rent an apartment over the Delfino Restaurant, on the top floor with a grand terrace, and there they stayed until the end of October.

He was born in New Orleans in 1924. When he took this long vacation he was already a celebrity, known in his country for his gifts as a brilliant writer and for his intemperate and transgressive life. He had his literary debut in 1948 with the novel “Other Voices, Other Rooms“, followed the next year by a collection of short stories entitled a “Tree in the Night” and in 1951 by the novel “The Grass Harp”.

The great musician Victor de Sabata, born in Trieste in 1892, conductor of the orchestra of teatro La Scala, an academic of Santa Cecilia, awarded the Gold Medal for Arts and Letters of the city of Milan, and decorated with many Italian and Foreign honours. After a serious heart attack in 1947 due to overwork while in America, he spent a lot of time in Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino because of its ideal mild climate.

Here, where he wanted to spend the last years of his life, he was very close to the young pianist Piero Lo Faro.

“I was in Santa Margherita visiting Pastonchi and maestro Giordano. In the afternoon we decided to take a walk and chatting while we walked, we arrived just beyond Paraggi. There, one of the two stopped to say after that point there’s a little fishing village, Portofino, it’s not worth the bother to go there, we can return”. Some time passed, this time Gotta came to Portofino invited to the Splendido Hotel by Raffaele Calzini, already a famous journalist of the Corriere Della Sera.

Cesare Esposito, born in Naples, worthy artistic heir to Vincenzo Gemito, Gaetano Esposito, and Edoardo Dalbono, lived and worked a great deal in Liguria and in Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure in particular. As his greatfriend and admirer Enzo Cochetti wrote: “Cesare Esposito is a complete painter; his methods are very effective, his technique, perfect and his possibilities infinite. Attentive contemplator of nature, he found in the riviera a source of inexhaustible stimulus for his talents. Delicious waters, dense and just tones, cut with taste, sustained with effective contrasts of light and shade; wide sweeping ligurian landscapes, succinct, with exact observation“.

The name of Gilberto Govi is known not only in Liguria but also in all those places where Ligurians, in the course of their long history, have brought their presence, their “Genoesity“. A language, that for centuries was a language enriched by words from every part of the world both ancient and modern, was reestablished in all of Italy by the theater of Gilberto Govi. Perhaps this personalitywill be of little interest to a non-italian reader, not however in America where there are numerous descendants of genoese immigrants, and especially in Argentina. In the Boca, for example, which is the section of the port of Buenos Aires until very recently Genoese was spoken.

Ernst Bloch, who was part of that intellectual circle in Heidelberg that included the sociologist Max Weber, Karl Jaspers, the founder of German existentialism, and the hungarian Marxist philosopher Gyorgy Lukaks, was a great German philosopher of Jewish origins who opposed the Nazis and left Germany in exile in many European cities and then in America. In 1927 the philosopher stayed for quite some time in Portofino in a little house in the hills with the young polish girl Karola. Twenty years younger than him, she would eventually become his second wife.

It isn’t easy to get one’s bearings in this complex period of history that goes from the period of the “signorie” in Italy to the formation of Spanish domination on the peninsula. Carlo V. whose ancestors left him half of Europe as an inheritance, was for that reason i puzzle. When he played the game of forging alliances, he was easily tempted to “throw in the towel”. Speaking in particular of Andrea Doria who in his last years was allied with Charles V. it is terrifying when one notes how this great man changed sides so often. Andrea Doria was in admiral of Francesco I, the king of France, when the Adornos dominated Genoa with the support of the Spanish.

Francesco I, the king who in 1515 succeeded Louis XII came to Italy in September of the same year to redeem the duke of Milan taken from France two years before as a result of the victory of the Holy League sponsored by Pope Giulio II. After the defeatof Massimiliano Sforza at Melegnano, the young king of nineteen years ruddy and ambitious, became one of the richest and most important regions of Italy. This, he believed, was the moment to make his bid for the imperial crown. Another young potentate had appeared on the European scene however. He was Carlo V, who had inherited Flanders and the Franca Contea from his father Philip of Habsburg and the kingdom of Spain from his mother, Giovanna la Pazza, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.

Don Giovanni of Austria, natural son of Carlo V. was the great admiral who defeatated the Turkish fleet at Lepanto. Besides the Venetians, the Genoese, and the Pontiffs, he had as his ally the winds. First,the northwest wind that pushed his galleys against the enemy, then the southeast wind which prevented the Moslems from attacking. His stepbrother, Philip II, was not so lucky with the winds three years later in 1574 when, on behalf of the very christian king Carlo V, he was sent from Naples to Genoa to try to calm the smoldering conflicts between the old and new nobility for governance of the city. In fact he was blocked by an opposing wind at Portofino and was a guest at Cervarawith an honorable welcome. It seems that he aspired to become master of the turbulent Genoa and probably held meetings with representatives of the old nobility who had occupied Portovenere, Sestri Levante, Chiavari, and Rapallo, lands east of the Republic.

Maria de’ Medici, daughter of the defunct grand duke of Tuscany Francesco I De Medici, was 27 years old when for reasons of state her uncle Ferdinando conceded her in matrimony to the 47 years old Enrico IV of Borbone, king ara of Navarra (from 1572) and of France (from 1579). Pope Clement VIII had annulled the first marriage of the king with Margherita di Valois (who could not have children) because she confessed to having contracted the marriage under duress. Married to the king of France through the power of attorney of M. eur de Bellegarde, ambassador of to Florence, by cardinal Pietro Aldobrandino, nephew of the Pope, Maria set sail on October 13, from Livorno in a superb galley escorted by six others belonging to the grand duke, five from the Pontiff, and two others from the Knights of Malta.

The great Jesuit preacher, originally from Nettuno, was considered in all of Italy a charismatic personality of great distinction. In fact, his sermons without rhetoric had an incredible success in those times in which Italy, half asleep, lacked stimulus and was, submitting to a period of decadence. The spiritual mission was to give a goal to human life and the throngs of the faithful venerated Segneri to such a fanatical point that they would do anything to obtain some physical memento, cutting pieces of his clothing, slicing splinters from the furniture he sat on, or from where his coat was hanging. Padre Paolo Segneri was sought by the Genoese senate and invited to Genoa “La Superba” (The Proud) in 1688. On his way from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany he stopped at Lerici, then he departed from there Saturday April 24th for Genoa. However a strong westerly wind blew in from the high point of the promontory making it impossible to continue.

The French political writer, who travelled extensively in Europe to observe its institutions and customs, was also in Genoa which he did not in fact judge favorably. Certainly “La Superba”, which was persistent in its effort to remain dominant over little rebellious Corsica, was the same which had lost out on the discovery and conquest of America, and that in the century of enlightenment did not yet have a decent road to go to Tuscany. To reach that grand duchy it was necessary to travel by sea. By land, with mules, it was exceedingly dangerous not just because of the risk of falling from one of the steep rocky paths that curved around the Apennine mountains, but because of the risk of being attacked by the brigands frequently found in those mountains.

When we observe along the so-called “beach of the women” at the Pedale in Santa Margherita Ligure – Portofino, all the skin divers (male and female) that submerge and emerge like so many frogs, it is exceedingly humorous for us here at the end of the twentieth century to think that in 1785 the forty-five years old scientist Lazaro Spallanzani swam in these very same waters to study the necessity of contact between the eggs of amphibians and the liquid sperm for reproduction. He had come to the abbey of Cervara from Portovenere where he had conducted important studies in taxidermy.

Henry Alford, the Anglican cleric who with great attention to detail described in pen and pencil the coast from Cannes to Genoa, was also in Portofino Italy in 1868 where his co-national Montagu Brown, English Consul in Genoa, was his host on the peninsula of Portofino. From therethe two went by foot on an excursion on the mountain to enjoy the wonderful panoramic view. Here they could feel part of an uncontaminated nature so different than western England and inebriate themselves on the lush scents of mediterranean vegetation. They had left in the morning when it was still cool. Alford, contrary to his friend Montagu who was used to the area, had worn a tweed raincoat which he immediately took off after the first climb.

In the sultry summer of 1853, the coastal Italian town of Genoa played host to an unlikely guest: the famed composer Richard Wagner. It was a sojourn that would intertwine nature’s fury with an outpouring of musical inspiration, forever linking the tempestuous weather to Wagner’s masterpiece, the “Ride of the Valkyries.”

Genoa’s Allure*

Wagner arrived in Genoa entranced by the city and its people, captivated by the view of the gulf from the esplanade of Castelletto. To the east lay the imposing Mount Portofino; to the west, the Riviera stretched out toward the distant French mountains. It was an enchanting Mediterranean scene, one the composer described in a letter to his first wife, Minna Wagner, noting, “The oleanders were high with flowers, the nights were divine.”

In love with the beauty of the Ligurian riviera and in particular of the Portofino Coast, Alfred Noackdedicated a large part of his life immortalizing it through photography.He was a true prince of this art, one of the first, and we are indebted to him for his many images of Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino of his time.

He was originally fromDresden, the splendid capital of Saxony, called as is known, the Florence of the north. The city was completely destroyed by allied bombardment the final day of World War II.

“Home is in those places where the soul is enchained” wrote Voltaire the great french thinker. Fredrich Nietzsche confirms this affirmation and demonstrates how there is a profound connection between the places that have inspired artists and intellectuals and their works. In his book “Ecce Homo” he defined Portofino as a “small forgotten universe of happiness“.

The magical charm of Portofino is a “waking dream “.

In 1879 the Rome-Genoa line, an important connection in the structure of the Italian railroad, was completed. Umberto I, who at that time had been king of Italy for a year, decided to travel the entire tract that connected the capital with “La Superba“. The itinerary included a brief stop in the station of Santa Margherita Ligure and then in Portofino. The king already knew of the local amenities made famous by writers and poets and he loved the little city whose name reminded him of his illustrious spouse. The royal coach arrived at 4:45 in the afternoon of August lst. Santa Margherita Ligure to which on November 26, 1863 was added the adjective “Ligure” to distinguish it from the many other municipalities in the kingdom with the same name, was a rich city, the richest with this name.

What a strange destiny, that of the writer Valery Larboard! A great admirer of Italy and translator of the great author from Trieste Italo Svevo, he is, notwithstanding this, little known in Italy outside a restricted circle of specialists in french literature. Born in Vichy in 1881, he would die there in 1957, the year in which he was struck by a cerebral paralysis. His life was one long voyage. Thanks in fact to his favorable financial situation he could allow himself to live pursuing his interests. His personal aspirations lead him to wander throughout Europe totally immersing himself in the culture, in the customs, and in the language of the countries that he visited, and in particular those he loved most: Spain, England and above all Italy.

Guy De Maupassant

Who, driven by romantic sentiments, reaches Portofino by boat and pauses for a few brief instants in a sort of enchantment and tries to contemplate the spectacle before him, will have more or less the same vision that struck Guy de Maupassant more than a century ago. It is through this author’s eyes that one approaches this timeless village. Yes, timeless! Because they are the same words of Maupassant that can be used to give form to his vision: “a little village, Portofino, that envelopes like the arc of the moon around this calm basin“.

The great writer of German naturalism Gerhart Hauptmann came to spend the winter as the guest of his friends the Browns in the castle in Paraggi in 1912, when he won the Nobel Prize for Literaturefor his celebrated drama “The Weavers”. He had already divorced his first wife Marie Thienemann, daughter of a rich banker from Dresden, and was remarried to Margaret he Marschalk with whom he had already taken several trips to Italy. In that year the duke and duchess of Sassonia-Coburgo-Gotha were also on holiday in Santa Margherita Ligure. When he was staying in Santa Margherita, Gerhart Hauptmann would often go to the Caffè Colombo, in front of the little gardens where he would offer aperitifs to the Browns. He found it extremely pleasurable to relax with his friends in that place and enjoy the sun while it was so cold in Germany. He felt very comfortable in that caffe, certainly different from German caffes, but it was furnished all the
same with all those comforts that the “belle èpoque” had even brought to this part of Italy so beloved by the Germans.

In February 1898 Eleonora Duse was a guest in Santa Margherita Ligure. The great artist was looking to recuperate her health compromised by her strenuous theatrical tours. Besides this, the vacation represented a special parenthesis to the turning point which her relationship with Gabriele D’Annunzio had taken.

Parrochialism also meant emulation. Santa Margherita Ligure, beyond succeeding in having the addendum “of Rapallo”dropped from its name and being renamed “Santa Margherita Ligure” through an 1863 decree by , also succeeded, as did Rapallo, in getting two railroad stations, San Lorenzo della Costa, and Santa Margherita-Portofino, to serve the city in the 1868 railway that united Genoa with Sestri Levante.

The great Russian painter, one of the forerunners of abstractionism, was a guest in Portofino at Christmas of 1905. We don’t intend to write a biography much less a description of his art, that is the job of the critics. Instead we want to let it he known that he was a grand lover of Italy where his parents had brought him when he was but three years old. He then lived in the Ukraine with his aunt Elizabeth because his parents divorced. There, he studied the piano and cello and learned German. At twenty years old he enrolled in the University of Moscow and specialized in Political Economy. In 1889 the Society of Natural Sciences, Ethnography, and Anthropology sent him on a mission in Vologda where he became interested in the local decorative arts.

Only out of respect for chronological order have we waited until now to remember in this review of personalities connected with Portofino, the scientist of world importance and genius of physics, Guglielmo Marconi and his mythical yacht the “Electra”. The great benefactor of humanity was in Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino very often in the years between 1932 and 1937, and the boat, whose fatal name he wanted to give to his daughter, remained moored in the port of Santa Margherita Ligure. It was in fact inthe Villa Repellini of Pedale, half way between Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino, where Marconi with his assisten Mr. Gerald Isted, who was staying at the Hotel Regina and some other Hotels at the time, installed the first parabolic antennae, a forerunner of television.

To quote the words of the supreme Italian lyric poet who enthusiastically speaks of Cervara and of the coast of Portofinoseems a bit too erudite, but it is absolutely not possible to forget Francesco Petrarca among the illustrious guests on the Portofino Bay. Guido Scetten, the archbishop of Genoa had invited him.

This humanist & scholar who as I have already noted had the spirit of a poet and had decided to spend most of his time in this wonderful place (cara requies mea) and had even elected to be buried there. Petrarca and Scetten had both studied in Avignone. So when the archbishop invited the poet to the abbey the invitation was accepted and it was here that Petrarcamay have found the inspiration for some verses of his poem in Latin “Africa“.