Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)


World Heritage Identification Number: 826

World Heritage since: 1997

Category: Cultural Heritage

Transboundary Heritage: No

Endangered Heritage: No

Country: 🇮🇹 Italy

Continent: Europe

UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America

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The Cultural Landscape of Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino, and Tinetto): A Millennial Legacy

The coastal region encompassing Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the islands of Palmaria, Tino, and Tinetto, collectively inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, offers a captivating blend of natural beauty and historical significance. This area, situated along the Ligurian coast of Italy, presents a unique cultural landscape that reflects over a thousand years of human settlement.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The Ligurian coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of great scenic and cultural value. The layout and disposition of the small towns and the shaping of the surrounding landscape, overcoming the disadvantages of a steep, uneven terrain, encapsulate the continuous history of human settlement in this region over the past millennium.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

The Committee decided to inscribe this site on the basis of criteria (ii), (iv) and (v), considering that the eastern Ligurian Riviera between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural site of outstanding value, representing the harmonious interaction between people and nature to produce a landscape of exceptional scenic quality that illustrates a traditional way of life that has existed for a thousand years and continues to play an important socio-economic role in the life of the community.

Encyclopedia Record: Porto Venere

Porto Venere is a town and municipality located on the Ligurian coast of Italy in the Province of La Spezia. It has a population of 3,208.

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Additional Site Details

Area: 4,689.25 hectares

UNESCO Criteria: (ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(v) — Outstanding example of traditional human settlement

Coordinates: 44.10694 , 9.72917

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Image of Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)

© Aconcagua (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)

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Country Information: Italy

Flag of Italy

Official Name: Italian Republic

Capital: Rome

Continent: Europe

Population (2024): 58,986,023

Population (2023): 58,993,475

Population (2022): 59,013,667

Land Area: 295,720 sq km

Currency: Euro (EUR)

Country Data Sources

Last updated: January 18, 2026

Portions of the page Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto) are based on data from UNESCO — World Heritage List Dataset and on text from the Wikipedia article Porto Venere, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes made. Additional original content by World Heritage Explorer (WHE), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. WHE is not affiliated with UNESCO or the World Heritage Committee. Legal Notice. Privacy Policy.

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