Following the path that from Tellaro climbs up among ancient olive trees, immersed in the Mediterranean scrub, on the heights of Fiascherino stand the remains of Barbazzano, a hamlet of ancient origins. The site reveals the conformation of a walled-in hamlet, with the remains of houses and part of the bell tower. Even today, the village a suggestive and mysterious atmosphere hovers around the village, fuelled by numerous legends. The most famous of these has it that a griffin was perched above of one of the entrance gates to the village and violently attacked a fierce commander who had besieged the town with his soldiers.
An ancient settlement, Portesone, stands on the heights above Tellaro. An agricultural village characterised by two-storey stone houses, the lower ones used as stables, while the dwellings were on the first floor, reached by movable wooden stairs. These characteristic tower houses were necessary due to the frequent pirate raids. The village was abandoned in the sixteenth century due to a plague epidemic. The surviving inhabitants, together with those of the nearby settlement of Barbazzano, took refuge in the coastal area, giving rise to the Borgo of Tellaro.
Villa Volpara, better known as the seventeenth-century Villa del Fodo, played a crucial role during the Second World War, becoming the site of a clandestine printery that operated continuously for nine months, from November 1943 to September 1944. The printery was placed inside an underground cistern in the villa’s farmyard, so that no noise could be heard when it was in operation. Thousands of anti-fascist leaflets and newspapers were printed and then distributed throughout the province. Leaflets for the general strike of March 1944 during the German-Fascist offensive were printed here.
Sheltered and hidden by vegetation, San Lorenzo del Caprione was a refuge for the people of Lerici during the Saracen incursions of the early Middle Ages. The church, the last vestige of the ancient village, still preserve the peculiarity of the bell tower joined to the rectangular wall structure. A short path leads to the megalithic site where, in the days before and after the summer solstice, it is possible to admire the extraordinary archaeoastronomical phenomenon of the “Farfalla Dorata” (Golden Butterfly): at sunset, the rays of the sun wedging between the stones of a natural trilith, project the image of a luminous golden butterfly onto the stone behind.
On the hills above Lerici, in a place called Monti di San Lorenzo, during the summer solstice and in the following days you can enjoy a unique and mystical spectacle. At sunset, the sunlight slips between the standing stones creating a butterfly of light. The golden butterfly will be visible for almost a month: from late May to late July. There are hundreds of theories about the meaning of this prehistoric butterfly, but the most reliable one links the phenomenon to the shamanic cosmogony. This mystical wonder will amaze you and give a hint of magic to your holiday.