PORTO VENERE, SANTUARY OF. — On the extreme western tip of the Gulf of La Spezia, near the village of Porto Venere, perched above the sea, stands the ancient temple of St Peter the Apostle.
Its construction seems to date back to the 6th or 7th century, following the transformation of a pagan temple dedicated to Venus Erycina. The church consists of several buildings, joined together at different times and through various rebuildings: the style of the new structure (completed in 1277) is Romanesque-Pisan, while the small original church shows a simpler architectural motif, reminiscent of the Roman era. A suggestive legend claims that St Peter once stopped at the site where the church now stands, on his way from Asia. Some historians, however, assert that the church was built by local fishermen who wished to honor Simon Peter of Bethsaida, who was also a fisherman. The church has a single nave; the floor features designs of circles, bands and stars, laid in mosaic with marble tiles. Attached to the old structure was a small rectangular abbey, already in existence in the 6th century and dependent on the monks of the island of Tino. The interior, like the lower part of the exterior, has walls with broad white and black stripes; the presbytery is divided into three parts, the square chapels with ribbed vaults supported by pillars. The bell tower, with paired windows, culminates in a pyramidal spire. Damaged by fires and wartime operations over the centuries, to the point of being turned into a fortress, it has recently been restored (1930) through the intervention of the State and the Municipality. The temple, which was once the property of the Holy See, is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the archpriest-parish priest of St Lawrence in Porto Venere. Although administratively dependent on the municipality of La Spezia, this parish is subject to the Diocese of Chiavari.