Looking for an elusive hotel
Monday, April 26, 2025, was spent looking for the hotel in PBS’s fabulous drama program, “Hotel Portofino.”
Marie and I both enjoy the PBS drama series, Hotel Portofino, so we set out early in our rented automobile to Portofino to get some photos. A quick hour drive down the Autostrada took us to Rapaollo where we started our harrowing journey down very narrow and sharp curving lanes along the peninsula coastline to Portofino.
We passed through a couple of lovely coastal villages, but they were so crowded there was nowhere to park and explore, even at 9 in the morning. Forty minutes later we arrive in Portofino. The municipal leaders had enough foresight to build a public parking structure for tourists and we took advantage of it.
The hunt for Hotel Portofino began.
We walked down to the plaza fronting the water. None of it matched any of the shots from the TV show. Stopping to ask storekeepers if they knew where the Hotel Portofino is located, we were greeted with blank stares and answers of never hearing of it.
The helpful young lady at the tourist information office solved our mystery. Hotel Portofino is filmed in Croatia.
The fictional hotel and lovely town square is across the Adriatic Sea. How disappointing.
Oh, well, it’s off for new adventures. The tourist information lady suggested taking a water taxi either to San Fruttuoso or to Santa Margherita Ligure. We picked the former because it was only a half-hour trip, giving us time to walk the trail to see the only historical sites of Portofino, a castle and a church.
We should have taken the hour long trip to Santa Margherita Ligure, one of the cute little towns we drove through to reach Portofino.
Our water taxi docked in front of a beautiful church building hugging the beach and Marie and I wondered how far we’d have to walk to get to the village.
We learned from another tourist that this is it. No village, just the Catholic San Fruttuoso Abbey with a beach and several restaurants. An hour later we were headed back to Portofino for a quick snack. On our approach from the sea we spotted this beautiful building perched high above on top of a mountain facing the water.
It was our elusive Hotel Portofino. Unfortunately at the time, we just thought it was a beautiful place to build a home. It wasn’t until we were writing this blog that we searched the internet for a photo of the hotel that is shown at the beginning of each program. We realized the production company used the same building as their fictional Hotel Portofino. We doubt we would have hiked up to look at it if we had known, as Marie and I were disappointed about the whole filming in Croatia thing.
Patty Ann took to the sea to sail to Croatia to find the hotel, as she also was a big fan of Hotel Portofino.
We decided to skip lunch in Portofino and drive back toward the Autostrada and try to stop at one of the small villages along the way. No luck. No parking. We kept driving.
Marie and I dropped off the rented car on our way home and caught a taxi back to our hotel. We took a short break in the room before going to find a quick bite at Bar Butterfly. Nice atmosphere and good food, but needed salt.
After a walk down the passiginata looking in shop windows we headed back to the hotel.
We almost got caught up on our “daily” blogs before heading out for dinner.
While I was checking in the rental car, Marie struck up a conversation with a young man waiting to rent one. She asked him if he could recommend a good place to eat in La Spezia. He suggested Osteria all’Inferno. It’s been around since 1905 and run by fourth and fifth generation family members.
Marie and I headed out to try it. We found it and it was packed. You needed reservations. Next available one was at 9, so we had a little more than an hour wait.
After walking around, we returned to the restaurant for our reservation time and Marie and I are happy to report this may have been our best meal since landing in Italy. We loved it.
