Brown Castle, Portofino
The high position of this site, which controls entry to the inlet, has always dictated its use for military purposes; traces of a pre-existing Roman tower, datable to the 2nd/3rd centuries AD, have been found in test excavations.
It is thought that rebuilding took place around the year 1000, but the first information dates back to the period between 1425 and 1430 when, according to a document kept in the State Archive, the small fort consisted of a platform oriented towards the harbour and an elliptical tower, containing a chamber that could accommodate three to four people.
Under the policy of consolidation of the territorial State, the Republic asked the Milanese engineer, Giovanni Maria Olgiati Maria, to remodel the defence works; the period between 1554 and 1557 saw the extension of the castle towards the harbour and the addition of watchtowers. With the increase in internal space, it was also possible to ensure the presence of more soldiers in the fortress.
There was further extension work in 1664, and from 1725 to 1728 Napoleon strengthened the armaments. This was the last strengthening of the powerful defensive structure, which was demilitarised in 1867.
Bought in 1870 by the English consul in Genoa, Sir Montague Yeats Brown, it was restored by Mr. D’Andrade, architect, who was known for his “restoration” methods that produced transformations in the interiors, often enhanced by foreign elements, in accordance with the fashion of the time for cultured, refined collecting.

The last owner was Englishman John Baber, who collected some historical information; since 1961, the fortress has been the property of the Borough, which often uses it for exhibitions.

Tour
The Castle is surrounded by a Mediterranean garden, brimming with flowers, rose-bushes and pergolas; all around, the view is delightful, opening onto the gulf up to Baffe Point and, from the terrace near the entrance, to Portofino and the sea, well beyond the isthmus that connects the peninsula with terra firma.
The walls of the building are enhanced by numerous bas-reliefs and architectural decorations made of marble or slate, following the dictates of the revivalist fashion that articles of sculpture coming from chance discoveries or demolition work and carefully collected were to be placed here and there on the walls.
At the entrance you see the first slate lintel; then, on the access steps are some wrought-iron gates and railings, which hark back to a craft tradition that survived in Portofino until a few years ago.
The first room, divided in two by some steps, contains some items of furniture that are presumed to be original, and numerous architectural decorations fixed to the walls. In the wall opposite, lighted by small gothic-style windows, the door leads to the terrace (where the cannon was sited), which was converted to a very beautiful garden by Consul Brown. From there, you can fully appreciate the great strategic value of this fortress; the whole of Portofino is visible, without hindrance, from the cemetery to the inlet, dominated by the Hotel Splendido.
The defensive system was completed by Paraggi Castle (Santa Margherita), and a small castle and a tower situated on the other two hills, which characterize the profile of the Promontory. A pleasant stop here is a must.
On returning to the room, you ascend to the floor above via some stairs covered with “laggioni”. The use of majolica for covering the walls was widespread in Liguria, imported, no doubt, from other Mediterranean areas, particularly from the Arab world; similar examples can still be found in some Genoa private houses and can be seen in the third chapel in the right-hand aisle of the church of Santa Maria di Castello, Genoa. These examples, doubtless known to the architects, suggested the fixing of these seventeenth-century slabs from Albisola on the stairs of the castle, on the side wall of which you can see a reproduction of an ornamental panel with a Manger, a copy of the Adoration of the Magi attributed to the Gagini (15th century), at via Orefici 47r, Genoa.
The stairwell continues its homage to medieval art with a wooden-panelled ceiling, in the recesses of which are paintings of saints, martyrs and monarchs.
In the first floor room, which has a ceiling of Lombard-type cross-vaults, a large triptych worthy of restoration stands out. The floors appear to have been extensively repaired, no doubt in order to make them more suited to the requirements of a high-class home. To the right, you are struck by the presence of a stove in majolica, while on the left is the circular room of the tower, where the floors and walls reveal even more clearly twentieth-century influence; a niche fashioned in the thickness of the masonry has been converted to an alcove and the opening of one of the guard windows to a well-illuminated “study”.
The building has another floor, but this is closed to the public, as it is used by the Mursia Meteorological Centre.