Portola Valley is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, United States, founded in 1964. It is the wealthiest town in America per the American Community Survey, by the U. S. Census Bureau based on per-capita income for communities larger than 4,000. Home prices are among the highest in the nation. Portola Valley was named for Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolá, who led the first party of Europeans to explore the San Francisco Peninsula in 1769; the town was incorporated in 1964. The Native Americans present were Ohlone and the group known as Olpen or Guemelento but these were moved to Mission Dolores and Mission Santa Clara de Asís which claimed the land and peoples; the area's written history dates back to 1833, when a square league of land was given to Domingo Peralta and Máximo Martínez by Governor José Figueroa to form the Rancho Cañada del Corte de Madera. In those days it was used for cattle grazing. By the 1880s Andrew S. Hallidie, a wire rope manufacturer, had built his country home of Eagle Home Farm in what is now Portola Valley.

He built a 7,341 foot long aerial tramway from his house to the top of Skyline in 1894 though it was removed after his death in 1900. In 1886 the name Portola-Crespi Valley was bestowed on the area from the community of Crystal Springs (now under Crystal Springs Reservoir to the community of Searsville. Ambassador Bill Lane was the first mayor. Portola Valley is located on the San Francisco Peninsula on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains; the town is west of Interstate 280 and the southwest boundary is along Skyline Boulevard which more or less is the ridge of the mountains. The Windy Hill Open Space Preserve is a large part of the town's southwest side and the north side of the town borders Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. Woodside borders it to the northwest and Palo Alto to the southeast The unincorporated subdivision of Ladera is adjacent to the northern boundary of the town, it is in a wooded area, with some open fields. The San Andreas Fault bisects the town. Alpine road and Portola road are the two main roads in the town and their intersection forms a small shopping nexus.

Portola Valley can be divided into 7 subdivisions: Central Portola Valley, The Ranch, Corte Madera, Los Trancos/Vista Verde, Woodside Highlands and Blue Oaks. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 9.099 square miles, 99.98% of it land and 0.02% of it water. Our Lady of the Wayside Church was built in 1912 for the local Catholic community and is a California Historic Landmark and on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places. Portola Valley School is a one-room former school house built in 1909 and is on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places, it is now used for town council meetings. The Alpine Inn known as Casa de Tableta, Rossotti's or Zott's, is one of the oldest existing drinking establishments in California, which started around 1852 when Felix Buelna built it as a gambling house; the first two-network TCP/IP transmission was between a specialized SRI van and ARPANET on August 27, 1976. In 2018, the inn was acquired by new owners. Villa Lauriston, an estate located at 5050 Alpine Road and encompassing 29 acres, was commissioned by James Graham Fair, the founder of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

Ford Field Alpine Hills Tennis and Swimming Club The Village Restaurants and Shops Alpine-Portola Junction Roberts Market Triangle Park Portola Valley Hardware Ron Ramies Auto Repair Portola Cafe Deli Portola Valley Town Center Portola Valley Library, Children's Playground, Field Portola Valley is known for its expansive trail network both maintained by the town and in the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve maintained by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The average income per household in Portola Valley is $354,744; the 2010 United States Census reported that Portola Valley had a population of 4,353. The population density was 478.7 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Portola Valley was 3,960 White, 12 African American, 5 Native American, 242 Asian, 1 Pacific Islander, 29 from other races, 104 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 175 persons; the Census reported that 4,309 people lived in households, 9 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, 35 were institutionalized.

There were 1,746 households, out of which 518 had children under the age of 18 living in them, 1,149 were opposite-sex married couples living together, 70 had a female householder with no husband present, 35 had a male householder with no wife present. There were 37 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, 21 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 420 households were made up of individuals and 290 had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47. There were 1,254 families; the population was spread out with 1,001 people under the age of 18, 145 people aged 18 to 24, 538 people aged 25 to 44, 1,496 people aged 45 to 64, 1,173 people who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 51.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. There were 1,895 housing units at

The Estaus Palace in Rossio Square, in Lisbon, was the headquarters of the Portuguese Inquisition. The original palace was built on the north side of the square around 1450 as lodging for foreign dignitaries and noblemen visiting Lisbon. In 1536, during the reign of King John III, the Inquisition was installed in Portugal, the palace became the seat of the institution; the palace had a prison and tribunal where the accused of heresy, of secretly practising the Jewish faith, were subjected to trial, persecution and execution. Rossio square and nearby St. Domingos square were used as setting for public executions; the first official auto-da-fé took place in 1540. Among the thousands of people accused by the Inquisition and held in the prison of the Estaus are important personalities like historian Damião de Góis, poet Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage and dramatist António José da Silva, nicknamed "the Jew", executed by the Inquisition in 1737; the Inquisition Palace was damaged in the catastrophic 1755 Lisbon earthquake, but was rebuilt under designs by Carlos Mardel.

This building was destroyed by fire in 1836. The Inquisition was not abolished in Portugal until 1821. Thanks to the efforts of writer Almeida Garrett, the palace was replaced in 1842 by the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, built to a Neoclassical design by Italian architect Fortunato Lodi; the theatre stands today on the site of the old Estaus Palace. A statue of Renaissance Portuguese playwright Gil Vicente is located over the pediment of the theatre; some of Gil Vicente's plays had been censured by the Inquisition in the late 16th century. General Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments Rossio

Kaari Marjatta Utrio is a Finnish writer. She has written over 13 non-fiction books on historical topics, she is a historian, holding the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Helsinki, has returned from the position of Professor in service of the Finnish State Commission of Fine Arts. Kaari Utrio was born in Helsinki to a middle-class family, her father was Urho Untamo Utrio, who after the Winter War worked as CEO of Tammi, a Finnish publishing company. Her mother Meri Marjatta Utrio worked as a translator to Finnish. There were over four thousand books in Utrio's home, literature was valued in her family. Utrio became acquainted with literature at a young age, when her mother read her classics of world literature, such as Kipling and Shakespeare as bed-time stories. At the age of seven, the first book Utrio read by herself was a thick volume of Jokamiehen Maailmanhistoria. At school Utrio did well in composition writing though she did not have any plans to become a writer at the time.

Instead she wanted to become a researcher of History. Grimberg's Kansojen historia offered a lively description of history to the young Utrio. Kaari Utrio matriculated in 1962 from a girls-only college. After that, she studied history at the University of Helsinki and graduated as a Master of Arts in 1967, History of Finland and Scandinavia as her major subject and General history as minor; the following year, Utrio published her first novel Kartanonherra ja kaunis Kirstin, published by Tammi. The title was given by the publisher, Utrio did not like it herself; the book was, however, a start for Utrio's numerous other historical novels, which have so far been published at a steady pace one per year. Utrio has published many non-fiction books about history. Utrio has three children: Karri Virkajärvi, Antti Virkajärvi and Lauri Linnilä. In 1974 Utrio married Kai Linnilä; the next year, they moved to Somerniemi in Somero. At first, the couple tried their hand at self-sufficient agriculture, but gave it up after a couple of years.

Instead, in 1982, Utrio and Linnilä founded. Amanita became a family corporation, because Meri Utrio worked there, also Lauri Linnilä and his wife joined the staff. Utrio has been active in several organisations, she has been the chairman of the Minna Canth Society from 1999. Utrio is a member of Amnesty International and has been on the board of the Finnish Association of Writers for several years, she has been active in municipal politics as a non-committed member of the Social Democratic group of the Somero municipal government from 1980 to 1988, the chair of municipal library committee. She has given many lectures in many events all around Finland. Utrio was appointed an artistic professor for the years 1995 to 2000, a recognition for her work. Utrio has been an academic in the Väinö Tanner Foundation since 2000, she was awarded the Finnish State Publication Prize in 2002 for her life's work, Pro Finlandia medal in 1993. The majority of Utrio's novels are historicals, set in a vast array of periods from Antiquity to the early 19th century.

The main character is a woman somehow connected to Finland or Finnish history, although in the novel Vaskilintu the other main character is a man, Eirik Väkevä. The setting is medieval Finland or its neighbouring countries, but faraway places like Constantinople and Calabria feature; the characters in Utrio's books are fictional, but she uses real historical figures as background characters. Utrio utilises her historical knowledge in great detail to strive for authenticity in depicting the lives of medieval people and to make history come alive for the readers; the private history of everyday life is a prominent element in her books, the lives of ordinary people taking precedence over political events. Everyday life is described from a woman's point of view reflecting the inferior position of women in historical times. Utrio writes strong and capable heroines who are able to achieve good positions in life because of their strength and love. Utrio can be seen continuing the tradition of the Finnish historical novel, including authors like Zachris Topelius, Santeri Ivalo, Mika Waltari and Ursula Pohjolan-Pirhonen.

However, Utrio renewed the Finnish historical novel as a genre by raising female characters to the fore and by exploring the role women have always had in the private sphere, maintaining not only the home but social cohesion. All of her books include themes of progress: things are improved by people searching for new solutions, she is considered one of the founders of historical entertainment in Finnish literature, alongside of Pohjolan-Pirhonen. Utrio hardly uses the present tense in her narratives. Utrio's non-fiction works focus on the history of women and children, whose lives are not discussed in historical narratives. Eevan tyttäret is one of Utrio's most notable non-fiction books; the book describes the history of women from the ancient Middle East and ancient Greece until modern times. The book has achieved international notice, has been translated into seven languages, her career as a published author has lasted more than forty years.