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Portovenere. The Doria Castle and the underlying cemetery.
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The Doria Castle is a fortress located on the rocky hill overlooking the seaside village of Portovenere, in the province of La Spezia. Considered one of the most majestic military architectures of the Republic of Genoa in the Ligurian Levant.
The date of construction of the first fortified building is unknown. The only data available and received by historians date back to 1139 when the Republic of Genoa acquired control of the village of Portovenere, thus defending itself to the east from the rival Republic of Pisa.
In 1161 the castle was rebuilt in a more dominant area than the pre-existing one.
In the 13th century the fortress was at the center of the struggles between Genoa and Pisa for the dominion over the surrounding lands; around the middle of the century both the castle and the seaside village of Porto Venere were part of the vast fiefdom in the Ligurian Levant of Nicolò Fieschi and will return to be the domain of the Genoese Republic starting from 1276.
During the Napoleonic domination of the Ligurian Republic, at the beginning of the 19th century the building will be used as a prison, however without altering its architectural forms.
Today the ancient Genoese fortress is owned by the Municipality of Portovenere and, after careful restoration work in the 1970s, is home to art exhibitions in various events that take place throughout the year.
From the castle a surrounding wall with loopholes, a walkway and towers descends to include the village of Portovenere.
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