The little Romanesque church of Santa Maria di Portonovo stands directly on the shoreline of the bay, built by Benedictine monks in the eleventh century out of pale local stone. The plan is a Greek cross, the masonry is unpainted, and the interior is a study in stripped-down Romanesque clarity.
The church was abandoned after an earthquake in the thirteenth century and only restored in the twentieth. It is open for visits on summer afternoons; a brief stop is enough to take it in. Combine with a swim and a lunch of moscioli at one of the nearby beach restaurants.