Tino is an Italian island situated in the
Ligurian Sea
The Ligurian Sea ( it, Mar Ligure; french: Mer Ligurienne; lij, Mâ Ligure) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient ...
, at the westernmost end of the
Gulf of La Spezia. It is part of an
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...
of three closely spaced islands jutting out south from the mainland at
Portovenere
Porto Venere (; until 1991 ''Portovenere''; lij, Pòrtivene) is a town and '' comune'' (municipality) located on the Ligurian coast of Italy in the province of La Spezia. It comprises the three villages of Fezzano, Le Grazie and Porto Venere, ...
. The largest of the three,
Palmaria, lies to the north and the tiny
Tinetto to the south.
In 1997, the archipelago, together with Portovenere and the
Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre (; lij, Çinque Tære, meaning "Five Lands") is a coastal area within Liguria, in the northwest of Italy. It lies in the west of La Spezia Province, and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarol ...
, was designated by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
as a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
.
History
The
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of the Gulf of La Spezia,
Saint Venerius ( it, San Venerio), is said to have lived on the island as a hermit, and later as
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
, until his death in 630. His feast is celebrated here annually on 13 September. It is thought that a sanctuary was constructed at the place of Venerio's death to contain his remains and that this was extended to form a
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...
in eleventh century. The remains of the monastery can be seen on the northern coast of the island.
Today the island, which is part of a military zone, is surmounted by the
San Venerio Lighthouse
San Venerio Lighthouse ( it, Faro di San Venerio) is an active lighthouse on the island of Tino, in the comune of Porto Venere in the Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. Its construction began in 1839, and was completed in 1840. It illuminat ...
.
In popular culture
The Isola del Mare in the 2021 animated film ''
Luca
The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population from which all organisms now living on Earth share common descent—the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth. This includes all cellular organisms; th ...
'' was inspired by Tino.
See also
*
List of islands of Italy
This is a list of islands of Italy. There are over 400 islands in Italy, including islands in the Mediterranean Sea (including the marginal seas: Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, Libyan Sea, Ligurian Sea, Sea of Sardinia, Tyrrhenian Sea, and inland is ...
Gallery
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-316-1162-11, Italien, Küstenbefestigungen, Flak-MG.jpg, German Soldiers in 1944, during the Second World War
File:Palmaria and Tino.jpg, Palmaria and Tino from The Beach of San Terenzo
Notes
Sources
*Much of this article is based its equivalent in the Italian Wikipedia,
Tino, as retrieved on 29 April 2006.
*Further information on Saint Venerius from ''The Book of Saints'', London: A & C Black, 1989.
Islands of Liguria
Italian Riviera
Ligurian Sea
Province of La Spezia
World Heritage Sites in Italy
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