Cinque Terre

From high above the shores of Cinque Terre (“five earths, or lands”), the five famous villages look lovely and as spectacularly situated on the Gulf of Genoa as they are reputed to be. All can be reached by coastal train or on foot via a honeycomb of  trekking trails; four are accessible by water; and while they all can be approached by car or motorcycle, none can actually be entered with a private vehicle.

Our first visit was to Vernazza, the most disappointing of the five villages. It’s a tired town…..run down, and over-run by tourists.  The approach on foot along a road accompanied by a cascading stream is pleasant enough, as is the approach by boat into a small harbor rimmed by wavy black rocks, streaked with what appears to be white marble, which still have the liquid look of the time millenia earlier when the cliffs were formed. But the buildings which front the harbor at venerable Vernazza have falling-down facades and closed-up shutters, more fitting for a deserted warehouse district than a world-renowned destination for trekkers and travelers.

With its cliffs covered in cascading steps of crops and flowers, and its deep river gorge, Manarola would have been our favorite of the five villages. It’s the most vertical and the buildings are the most colorful. It absorbs and disperses the train-loads of tourists better than Vernazza. But Manarola has made one terrible mistake. It has covered more than a mile of its gorgeous river and water falls with a pedestrian road, parking lot, church plaza, shops and eateries. One can hear the river rushing under the pavement, but the river and water falls can’t be seen. There had to have been a better way.

Corniglia doesn’t have water problems. It is set high on a cliff without river or ocean access. The city provides outstanding venues for ocean viewing, and it has the smallest tourist onslaught. It conducts itself at a pleasant pace. A lovely spot.

Furthest northwest is Monterosso, which has the broadest exposure to the ocean….. actually two gravel beaches separated by a rock outcropping with (what else) a fortress on top. Night-time lighting at the ocean’s edge, which was visible to us from our high hillside accommodations twenty miles away, beautifies the setting. The area around the smaller southern beach is more charming; the train station is adjacent to the larger northern beach. Monterosso is the most accessible and thus the most visited of the five villages.

Furthest southeast is the village of Riomaggiore which features a small beach surrounded by tall, colorful buildings. It is reputed to have inspired more paintings than any of the other four villages; but it was a windy, wet day that we were to tour it; so while we can attest that it’s a city of towering buildings over narrow passage ways, we cannot truly attest to the beauty that has inspired generations of artists.

Cinque Terre is Italy’s smallest national park, but it can provide a traveler more spectacular vistas and physical exercise in a single day than most places offer in a week.

JER