Team Building in the Bay of Poets

In Corporate Travel, Travel ideas
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Can your company transform challenging problems into ideas, strategies, communication, leadership and participatory interaction? Of course it can, especially in a place like the inspiring Bay of Poets! Successful team building and corporate retreats rely heavily on the excellence of the location combined with the quality of content. Let’s understand why a venue like Portovenere is ideal for both aspects.

Location, Location, Location

After luring Italian and international artists, poets and writers for centuries, Portovenere and the other villages of the Gulf of La Spezia still enchant and inspire visitors today. The colors and beauty of the landscape, protected by parks and marine reserves; the aromas and flavors of local cuisine; the history and traditions of the territory… these are all elements that distinguish this destination. Not surprisingly, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Map of Portovenere and surroundings

Portovenere enjoys a strategic location, surrounded by amazing attractions such as the Cinque Terre, Tuscany’s Forte dei Marmi and Florence, and Emilia Romagna’s Parma and Bologna. The airports of Pisa and Genoa are respectively 95 km and 120 km away, while Milan can be reached with a 3-hour drive. Quite importantly, Portovenere is easily reachable not only by boat, but also by bus and by car (unlike other villages in the surroundings, where car transit is forbidden).

Grand Hotel Portovenere offers garage parking right at the entrance of the historic center and in front of the harbor where ferries depart for the Cinque Terre. This boutique hotel also features a panoramic restaurant with a customizable selection of menus for business lunches, gala dinners, and coffee breaks. Business conferences can take place inside Sala Lerici, a meeting room that hosts up to 130 guests and can be set-up or divided to suit the needs of any kind of event.

Outdoors, in-between or after business meetings, the Gulf of Poets offers a variety of activities that are ideal for team building and corporate outings, such as trekking, sailing and wine tasting. But how can your company make the most out of these activities without being predictable and monotonous? After all, your clients or employees won’t be very inspired or motivated if they do the same activities over and over again.

Content is King!

Grand Hotel Portovenere has teamed up with FUTOUR, a design and innovation consulting firm that helps companies and people co-create and take decisions in an effective and innovative way. With such a partnership, your corporate event in Portovenere will not be dull, but will delight participants while meeting your company’s objectives.

Services are tailored to the client’s needs to obtain maximum value and the best results in the shortest time possible. Workshops, training, team-building, conflict resolution, interactive policymaking, strategic development: FUTOUR offers these and many more services for the acceleration of innovation, networking, and the strategic implementation of programs, policies and projects for private organizations and public bodies.

portovenere team building cinque terre
Lego® Serious Play® [photo by FUTOUR.it]

Among the many tools that FUTOUR uses to provide its innovative services, is Lego® Serious Play®. Have you ever heard of this? The goal of this activity is to foster creative thinking through team building metaphors of organizational identities and experiences using Lego bricks. Participants work through imaginary scenarios using visual three-dimensional Lego constructions. With this hands-on approach, participants come away with skills to communicate more effectively, to engage their imaginations more readily, and to approach their work with increased confidence, commitment and insight.

Are you curious to know what other creative team building activities you can implement for your company, both indoors at Grand Hotel Portovenere or outdoors in the Gulf of Poets and Cinque Terre?

For more information, contact the MICE Manager at

Among the companies that have already chosen this boutique hotel for their corporate events are Maserati, Warner Bros, Cruise Line Italian Association, Shiseido, Illy and Bayer. Grand Hotel Portovenere is the Best Venue for Corporate Retreats in the Bay of La Spezia!

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