But residents of the luxury destination, where the likes of Louis Vuitton and Loewe line the paths, say they are fed up with loud, half-naked holidaymakers flooding into the harbour every summer and behaving badly.
Tourists are now banned from walking around in swimwear, bare-chested or without shoes, and from drinking alcohol in the street. Visitors are asked to refrain from sitting or lying down in the streets, squares, and on walls, as well as from having picnics.
Barely 400 residents live in Portofino, in the northern Italian region of Liguria (Photo: Rob Kints/ Getty Images)Tourists breaking them face fines from €25 (£22) to €500 (£432), with municipal police agents confirming that it is their duty to make visitors respect such “decorum” rules.
“These laws introduced to preserve the unique tourist vocation of our village have been around since at least 50 years, but they have seldom been enforced,” according to Silvia Prato, a member of Portofino’s merchants’ lobby and owner of the Gennaker leather store in the village, told The i Paper.
Tourists descend on the cobbled streets of Portofino for luxury shopping (Photo: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Ms Prato’s boutique is located right on Portofino’s main piazza, lined with outdoor cafés and shops.
“The other day this man just strolled by in a sort of G-string, he was practically naked,” she said. “Surprisingly” most of them are Italian, she added.
Locals are angry about tourists who sunbathe in the streets and walk around half-dressed (Photo: Supplied)“It is disgusting. Things have gotten worse in the past few years. Portofino is a jewel and it was once untouched by bad overtourism. It’s meant to be an elite place,” said Ms Prato.
Giancarlo Modafferi, co-owner of Bar Miuccia and head of Portofino traders’ association, told The i Paper that the chic village, made famous worldwide in the 1700s by British travellers, was on the precipice of decline and needed to be saved from overtourism.
“They’re sweaty and the chair they’re sitting on becomes all gluey and sticky. I can’t have other clients sit there so must I clean or remove it at once. It’s awful, these people are savages, they have no sense of what good behaviour and social respect are,” he said.
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The worst days are when huge cruise ships arrive in Portofino’s bay and “vomit” thousands of people into the village. In his view, there should be a cap on the number of cruise ship day-trippers.
However, not everyone in Portofino thinks the bans are a good idea.
“They’re just playing songs, and some are even nice. I see nothing bad about it”, she said.
The town hall and the mayor’s office declined to comment.
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