Portofino is Italy's answer to the Garden of Eden. The Splendido hotel put it on the map

The funny thing about Liguria, a region in north-western Italy, is that few people could point it out on a map — unless you told them that it’s where the Splendido is. The hotel, part of Belmond, treads a careful line, attracting everyone — the glitterati, the self-made man, seasoned jet-setters, the British upper crust — and alienating no one.

The destination, Portofino specifically, is postcard perfect and still less crowded than other Italian hotspots, such as Lake Como and the Amalfi Coast. The landscape, all stately villas and private yachts, is a proper Mediterranean mirage, flecked by pines, holm oaks and chestnut trees, roses, jasmine and bougainvillea. If we’re getting biblical here, then Portofino is surely Italy’s answer to the Garden of Eden.

(Image credit: Belmond)

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