History

The little roadstead was already famous in ancient times. In fact it is mentioned in a portolano of the 2nd century A.C. called ltinerarium Maritimum. Portofino belonged in the 10th century to the Benedictine Abbey of San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte, and in 1171 to the Rapallo Jurisdiction. Later (1229) it was annexed to the Genoese Republic, and followed the same fortunes. The Republic built a fortress there in the seventeenth century which is now known as Castello Brown, after the British Consul who bought it in 1870.

The inhabited area, composed by simple but typical fishermen houses, developed near the church of San Martino and stretched along the quay, in a curvilinear movement.