Portofino

Portofino is a Ligurian fishing village nestled at the back of a horseshoe-shaped cove, only a few kilometres from Genoa. Its Piazzetta, microscopic, where the longest yachts in the world and villagers in linen shirts pause together, is one of the most photographed squares in Italy. Above, Castello Brown and the church of San Giorgio have watched over the bay since the twelfth century.

The entire region — Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure, Sestri Levante, and further away the Cinque Terre villages — forms the Riviera di Levante, the other side of the Mediterranean Riviera. It is a coastal arc of some fifty kilometres, set between the sea and the Apennines, made of coves, hilltop villages with ochre houses, and Belle Époque palaces that have never given way to modernity.

Portofino is the only Maison Vehira territory situated beyond the Italian border. Service there is therefore cross-border — each mission represents a four- to five-hour journey from Monaco — and requires particular organisation, generally with the chauffeur's accommodation on site for the duration of the engagement.

Vehira conveys its guests to Portofino in two configurations. The first is the arrival journey — from the Côte d'Azur, Nice Airport, or a yacht moored in Monaco — to reach the Splendido or a villa rented for the season. Four to five hours by road, via the Autostrada dei Fiori to Genoa, then the Ligurian coast.

The second configuration is by-the-hour service on site. The Maison then sends a dedicated chauffeur, accompanied by his motorcar, for the duration of the stay — a few days, a week, sometimes more. The chauffeur stays in lodging near the client's hotel, and conveys them in all their movements: Portofino, Santa Margherita, Cinque Terre, dinners in Rapallo, escapades to Genoa.

This service requires prior coordination — border crossing protocol, Italian formalities, chauffeur's accommodation — and is mobilisable only on confirmed engagement. Maison Vehira regards it as a service apart, distinct from daily service on the Côte d'Azur.

Portofino counts two major palaces — the Splendido perched on the hill above the harbour, and its younger sister the Splendido Mare on the Piazzetta — that the Maison habitually serves, in coordination with their concierge. Both belong to the Belmond heritage; both are accessible by the same winding road that descends from Santa Margherita.

Further along the coast, in Rapallo, the Excelsior Palace dominates a sister bay, with its Belle Époque architecture intact and its seaside pools. In Santa Margherita Ligure, the Grand Hotel Miramare. For guests on escapade to the Cinque Terre, the Maison conveys to the various listed villages — Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza, Corniglia, Monterosso — accessible either by road or by train from La Spezia.