Portovenere is a pastel row of tall houses stacked along the water's edge, their backs forming a kind of sea wall, and at the end of the promontory a black-and-white striped church on a rock. The church of San Pietro, begun in the twelfth century in the Genoese Gothic style, stands on the foundations of an older sanctuary that was supposedly a temple of Venus, the goddess who gave the town its name, and the whole point of the place leans out into the Ligurian Sea. Across a narrow strait lie the islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto, part of the same World Heritage listing that covers the Cinque Terre. Byron is said to have swum across the bay to visit Shelley at Lerici, and a cave below the church carries his name.
For centuries this was a Genoese stronghold against Pisa and the sea powers beyond, and the great Doria castle above the village still dominates the skyline. The tall narrow houses were built almost as a continuous defensive wall, with windows facing in and the seafront facing out, and the single main street, the Via Capellini, runs steeply from the gate to the point.
The approach from La Spezia is a coastal road with a few bends, some busy suburban stretches and views over the gulf, and the last kilometres are narrow, steep and congested in summer. Parking in Portovenere is a problem, so leave the bike in the car park at the entrance and walk down. Early morning or late evening is by far the best time, and in the off season you might have the lanes to yourself. The riding that makes this part of Liguria famous lies in the hills behind, where narrow, twisty roads climb between terraced hillsides and drop to tiny harbours.
Fuel is easy in La Spezia, a naval and port city with a big harbour. Portovenere itself offers small restaurants along the waterfront, with trofie pasta, anchovies, mussels from the gulf's farms, and focaccia, which is taken seriously here. Riomaggiore and the other Cinque Terre villages are close as the crow flies, but the roads linking them are narrow and often restricted, so many riders go by train or ferry instead.