Porto (river)

[1] It rises in the Cristinacce commune to the south of the 1,712 metres (5,617 ft) Capu a Rughia, just west of the border with Haute-Corse.

[6] The Tour génoise de Porto was built by the Genoese, and stands on a rocky promontory looking over the sea.

[7] The coastal village has large buildings that seem inappropriate for a small settlement that cannot expand due to lack of available land.

[10] Upstream of Ota a dominant position named U Castellu was settled in prehistoric times, and later was the site of a castle that controlled access to Porto from the fertile valleys of the high mountain territory.

[11] Edward Lear (1812–1888) wrote of the central valley in his Journal of an English Landscape Designer (1868), The northern part of this gorge, in the territory of Ota, is home to thriving crops, olive trees, terraced vines; opposite, where the forest road blossoms, a wild, different universe prevails: chasms, chestnut trees with dazzling spring adornments emerge among the ferns, foxgloves, fields of cyclamen, enhanced by the livid bells of amaryllis.

[14] Edward Lear wrote in 1868 “Look at the high peaks, beyond the pass, the massive dark pine forest contrasts with the golden green undulations of the birch wood.

While strolling in the heart of a shaded valley, you notice the lights on the road, or the immaculate snow on the verges.

Porto. Genoese tower visible above the river mouth
Natural pool on the Aitone tributary