Isola del Tino is an island you are almost never allowed to visit. It lies just off the southern tip of the Ligurian coast, a short distance beyond Portovenere and the island of Palmaria, and it belongs to the Italian navy, which keeps it as a military zone. The one exception is the feast of San Venerio, on the thirteenth of September, when boats ferry visitors across and the public may walk on the island for the day. Venerius was a hermit who lived on the island, and the ruins of a medieval monastery built in his honour stand among the pines and rocks.
The scenery is the reward on the mainland side. Portovenere is a compact harbour village of tall, narrow, pastel houses facing the sea, crowned by a Genoese castle and the black and white striped church of San Pietro on a rock above the waves. Lord Byron is said to have swum across to Lerici from here, and the bay carries his name. The whole stretch, with the Cinque Terre next door, is a UNESCO site, though the islands carry a different flavour from the crowded villages to the north.
The ride in from La Spezia is short and charming. The road follows the western shore of the gulf, with views over the water to the marble mountains of Carrara, and then climbs and bends along the cliffs to Portovenere. It is narrow and busy in summer, and parking in the village is very limited, so go early or after the day-trippers leave. Fuel is in La Spezia, a naval city of nearly a hundred thousand people, rather than in the tiny villages of Le Grazie and Portovenere on the peninsula.
Spring and early autumn are the best seasons, when the air is clear and the sea is blue. You can watch the island from a harbour-side bar, with a plate of anchovies or a focaccia, and think about a hermit's life.