Isola Palmaria

This is the largest and only inhabited island of the trio in the Porto Venere archipelago and is a traditional destination for the inhabitants of La Spezia. The main attraction is the Blue Grotto, only accessible by sea, but there is also the Grotta dei Colombi, accessible only by land. Human and animal remains dating back to the Paleolithic period have been found in these caves. The Umberto I fortress, built by the Italian navy at the end of the 19th century. The island, like the smaller Tino, and Tinetto, little more than a rock, was a place where Benedictine monks colonised.