Five Lands (Cinque Terre)

The Cinque Terre (The Five Lands) include the villages of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.
These five villages, with the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and all together are recognized as Unesco World Heritage.
Some of the residents rent one or more rooms of their houses or transform an old house on a farm holiday (agriturismo) and, although the demand is very high at any time of the year, the offer also provides a roof to those who don't have booked, except in August and Easter, the most crowded periods, when you should be more provident and less adventurous, even if you are traveling in motor homes because it's not easy to find a place to camp.
Let's begin to describe these lands from Monterosso.

From Monterosso a fairly arduous path leads to the sanctuary of Soviore, one of the most famous of all the Cinque Terre, with a church, restaurant and accommodation that were small dormitory cells for nuns. Some years ago the church, cells and restaurant have been renovated, but the complex has lost some of its charm. Now the restaurant is cold and impersonal, the food seems industrial, prices are high and the rooms are small and gloomy enclosure cell. But if you are not married with a regular religious rite, the overnight stay is not granted, you can only eat at the restaurant is because you don't have to produce your documents.Fortunately the panorama has remained unchanged, it is always beautiful and worth a ride, sit a few minutes on a bench under the oak trees of the sanctuary and watch the sea from the top.

At Lavaggiorosso there is a great place to eat: By Zita. Lavaggiorosso, is composed by a group of houses perched on the hill in the valley in front of Levanto, where Zita has trasformed his home into a restaurant, with a veranda attached. The atmosphere is familiar and you feel part of it, the cuisine is authentic, with only few cheap dishes but of high quality. Since this is really a small two rooms apartment, it is essential to book in advance to avoid to get up there, thinking up a place to park your car (the lanes of the village barely allow the passage of pedestrians) and remain with your stomach empty. The signpost for Lavaggiorosso is immediately after Levanto, on the road to Bonassola, no address for Zita, she is simply 'Zita a Lavaggiorosso'. No much tourism here, bur foreigners, you know, go to Zita.

Bonassola is a charming village with a great beach lapped by an emerald sea. It's just after Levanto, towards Deiva, and you can reach it by car or train. Once in Bonassola, after a series of tight turns, the road ends; to go somewhere else, you must return to a crossroad where a signpost says: Le Cinque Terre sono 5, ma Bonassola è una sola (The Five Lands are 5, but Bonassola is only one). And actually these words are rather true. From the village, following a staircase that leads to a deconsecrated church, now home to art exhibitions, there is a path that winds up among pine trees and vineyards, and suddenly opens on a platform of a few square meters over the sea without a fence: it is called il salto della lepre (the jump of the hare). It is always windy up there, and you have the impression of watching the coast from the sky. Bonassola is by a half-hour of easy walk, affordable, and also if you have vertigo, do not say no. Children should be kept on hand.

Monterosso is the pearl most frequented by tourism, perhaps because it is the most flat, or because the train arrives in front of the sea and its beaches are the largest. No wonder if suddenly a huge coach materializes, with its guide with microphone and recognition flag. The beaches are extended from the old village, where a small bay in winter is often the place of my readings, to Fegina, the 'new' village. The last beach in Fegina, next to the sailing club, is also dubbed as Il Gigante (The Giant), because of a big sculpture of concrete and iron above the reef, 14 meters tall. The statue, which depicts Neptune, was built in 1910 and is now dented because of the bombing of the II WW and a devastating rough sea that in the sixties ruined it. The water that washes all the Cinque Terre is a transparent emerald and its bottom is full of fish. Punta Mesco, a natural park, offers underwater wonders that are really able to surprise anyone who still does not know the area. During the summer you can choose not to spend your time rubbing sticky sun cream into your skin on the crowded and chaotic beaches, but to go snorkelling in the emerald sea. Another solution to avoid to become demoralized on the water's edge crowded by a mass of half-naked bodies, is the canoe, to go from place to place by the sea, maybe stopping sometimes to try to see some dolphin in the open sea.

You can reach Fegina by the old side of Monterosso through a tunnel and the waterfront recently renovated. Tourists who do not spill on the beach walk watching the sea or sit down to contemplate it from the benches, someone continues to the Capuchin Monastery that overlooks the sea visually embracing all the Cinque Terre. Few tourists climb up to the Cemetery, which can be easily reached in ten minutes through a steep path from the waterfront, or going up a path between the gardens and dry stone walls, leaving the old village in front of the policemen barracks. In the cemetery once stood a castle, completed in the eighteenth century, now it remains only the ruined walls of the longest side. There, in the cemetery, there is an authentic atmosphere, you can watch the scene far from the commercial aspects of the country, you can sit on a low wall to contemplate the nature, the silence, and reflect on the course of time.

From Fegina, who accepts to do some hard work, a path climbs to lead in forty minutes to the ruins of an old abbey, San'Antonio al Mesco, immersed among the Mediterranean parfumes of Punta Mesco, that offers a rather extraordinary scene. The route goes slightly down in the shade of a thick pine forest, that does not hide glimpses of the open sea; you reach Levanto, beautiful small city, winter home for surfers and functional fulcrum with supermarkets, libraries, shops of all kinds, cinema: for those who just can not completely give up the metropolitan lifestyle . . .

From Monterosso Vecchia starts a path to Vernazza (unfortunately now you have to pay a ticket for this and many other paths). This is a fairly long path that winds between orchards, olive trees and lovely homes, often in rebuilding, some used a b&b. A beautiful experience is to stay, but mostly to spend the night, in the B&Bs located on the paths between the olive trees and the broom on the slopes. The night, the silence is at least as thick as darkness, broken only by the sounds of small animals, noises that we are no longer used to distinguish, who remember our childhood, synesthesias. . .

Vernazza is on the hill, it has a couple of square meters of beach, some rocks and a small harbor. Particular is its architectural structure, full of arcades and loggias vertically developed, with houses built next one to another, and dominated by the cylindrical Belforte tower. It's a place that I like to go in winter when the sea is rough, because the waves rose vibrant and fall in the middle of the esplanade that is at the same level of the sea, where people usually walk or sit to watch the horizon.

Mandatory is a trip to Madonna di Reggio, through the ancient trail used by the fishermen of Vernazza as a links with the hinterland, a mule track that became Via Crucis with its colourful chapels that are still preserved. After the initial steep climb you will arrive quickly at high altitude (300 m) between well maintained grapevine terraces. The route is not too used and in an hour you come to the shrine, which dates back to the eleventh century, surrounded by a large square where you mast sit own to enjoy the shade of the age-old oak tree and to watch the scene. You can see the boats on the sea, which come and go down there like an apparition in a painting. The silence in this place is so intense that you clearly perceive your breath, the breath of the wind, the sound of an insect. Usually you are alone here, but everyone that you meet here, will move on tiptoe . . . and for not breaking the spell, will greet you with a smile.

The route linking Corniglia and Vernazza is not too short, but also not particularly challenging. Corniglia can be reached by car, but it is difficult to find a parking place unless it is November. . . The train does not arrive in the village, but next to Spiaggione, a beach made of large white rocks, a little uncomfortable, but at least in the summer season does not become a ground for deckchairs, umbrellas and cabins. . . From the station, to lead the country, you should go up a staircase of 377 steps because Corniglia stands on a promontory at least a hundred feet high, and this is his charm. Along the road that runs across the coast, after a turning point you unexpectedly will see Corniglia; for me it's not a new scene, but I remain always dazzling as if it were still a surprise. The Church of St. Peter in Corniglia is worth a visit, it is said to be one of the most beautiful buildings of the Cinque Terre. The Square in Corniglia is a place where you always stop to eat or drink something, there are small tables, a couple of bars and several cats. But what makes this village perhaps my favourite is the simultaneous presence of tourists and locals, lovely old men who have not resigned to give their land to foreign backpackers.

On Sunday morning the old men are in the square with a glass of white wine in one hand and the walking stick and the other, you can sit beside them to talk about the weather. An alternative to the seaside Spiaggione is Guvano, the naturist beach, where nudism is permitted and widely practiced. Difficult to reach by land from Corniglia, you have to walk up to a dark tunnel, cold, dirty and pay (euro 5!), or follow the path that leads to Vernazza to a well-marked junction, there you go down to the sea between dense and scented broom. The bay worth at least one visit, even for the most modest. Of course it is not required to get undressed until the last layer of skin . . . Another target not to be missed near Corniglia is San Bernardino, there is a bench where you can enjoy a unique place in the front row, ahead of a show whose sacredness enters strongly in competition with that of the sanctuary that gives his name to the village: to lie down on the bench and to space with your eyes on the horizon, really makes you in contact with the Absolute.

From Corniglia you reach Manarola through a path always near the coast, quite short and easy, no more than an hour, ending at the heart of the country. Also for children it is not considered demanding. A short frescoed tunnel, always crowded with people that comes and goes, leads from the station to the village center, perched on a spur of rock that emerges from the sea and that faces with its houses on a small charming port. The main street, under which flows the river Groppo, is colored by the boats parked along its course with enviable skill. From the harbour, you can proceed uphill, toward the cemetery, or take a walk near the sea engraved from the rocks, with small walls and benches where you can stop to rest or to watch the passer-by, tourists of all genders, ages and tastes. Later, a few steps leads to a couple of green terraces, where you can have your pic nic and then have a nap, in all seasons. Or simply watch the sea from above. Above the terraces, there are public toilets and a playground area for children. In Manarola there is no beach, but in summer, nothing stops you from plunging from a cliff and enjoy the clear water. In Winter they assemble a big luminous Nativity Scene that covers a hill overlooking Manarola. It was designed and built by a resident using waste materials, and it is composed of dozens of figures placed on the terraced vineyards, offering a very special exhibition, especially in the night.

In the hinterland, less than one kilometre from Manarola, about 300 meters above sea level, stands proudly the little jewel of Volastra, destination a little outside the circuits of the tourist coaches equipped with television and a guide who speaks to the microphone. This is a country of about 200 inhabitants, circular structure, whose oldest part is not visible from the sea. Volastra can be reached by foot in about an hour from Manarola, through an ancient mule track that passes through vines and olive trees cultivation. Or you can take advantage of a transport service that from the bus station of Manarola leads in ten minutes at the entrance of this village, where an age-old olive tree welcomes you.

Near Volastra, at Groppo, there is the Cooperativa Agricola of the Cinque Terre, where you can taste and buy the wines of the area, including the famous 'Sciachetrà', made with past grapes. Recently, the Cinque Terre National Park has renovated and reopened an old mill for the pressing of olives.

The last land of the Cinque Terre is Riomaggiore. The path to arrive here from Manarola is the most popular, easy and short: la Via dell'Amore (the Way of Love). During the past ten years it has been paved, it can be practically covered with the utmost ease also pushing prams and strollers full of children. An alternative walk is the short climb to the Colle di Cerricò, where the ruins of the castle, or the beautiful trail that starts from the small beach in the country, and cuts vertically the cliffs overlooking the sea to reach the Torre Guardiola that stands on the tip of Montenero, stretched out into the sea south of Riomaggiore and characterized by an interesting botanical garden.

The most difficult path is the one that leads from Riomaggiore to the Sanctuary of Madonna di Montenero: before you havo to climb along the valley of the Rio Maior, and then along the coast and the ancient terraces you arrive exhausted at the panoramic terrace of the shrine. From the coast road of the Cinque Terre you reach the shrine in just 20 minutes, but by calling the Comune of Riomaggiore, you can organize an ascent with the curious rail trains used by the farmers in the area to move along slopes and stone walls.

Some routes may also be run across by bike, at the stations of Riomaggiore and Manarola there are rental services. Riomaggiore is perhaps the land, among the five, who has retained most of its original reserved character. Above the country runs a quiet street, where a bar offers a few tables for people who want to stop, even in warmer winter days, to discover that life here runs a less frenetic pace. . .

Although mathematics is not an opinion, the number 5 of the Cinque Terre (Five Lands) has emerged to be uncertain. . . Someone say that the Lands are not 5 but 7: the other two would be Tramonti di Biassa and Tramonti di Campiglia, last inhabited places in the far east of Liguria, after, continuing to Portovenere, only the harsh rocks of Albana (The Reds) and Muzzerone (The Black) stands upright on the sea, designing small and inaccessible beaches by the crystal sea.

Whether the lands are five or seven in my opinion doesn't matter, but Campiglia worth a visit. Border point between the Cinque Terre National Park and Portovenere Regional Park, is the center of a network of narrow paths and mule tracks. It can easily be reached by car and there is a bus service from La Spezia. By walking you arrive through the trail number 1, whether you come from Portovenere, or from the opposite direction, Monte Telegrafo, then Biassa. In front of the church, the path number 1 intersects with many other less known and popular paths, where widespread in the wild are the saffron plants, typical of the whole Tramonti territory. The paths near the sea are used by farmers to achieve the cultivation of vineyards and olive trees and are essential for the terrace restoration programs.

The village of Campiglia is 400 meters above sea level and its location offers without discounts a splendid view of two seas: the Gulf of La Spezia and the open Cinque Terre sea. When the air is clear you can see the Corsica, Capraia, the Gorgona, the island of Elba and the French coast. Hospitality in the country is offered by an old hotel, a couple of good restaurants and some inns, where you can make great snacks, even outdoors.

I like very much the Cinque Terre (Five Lands) because there are no parades in the evening in the center of the country or on the promenade, but you wear the boots and walk, there is fatigue and laziness to win, you contemplates the nature outside and into the sea. You forget the appearing culture, hidden by vines, sea, olive groves and sweat. . .

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PATHS
The path from Riomaggiore to Monterosso is the most famous and spectacular, it is 15 kilometres long and can be covered in about 5 hours. Traced over the centuries by those who used it to move from village to village, in some places is a real mule track. Here are listed the five segments of the path and by clicking them you can see the details on the map:
- Trek Monterosso-Vernazza (2 hours),
- Trek Vernazza-Corniglia (2 hours),
- Trek Corniglia-Manarola (u1 hour),
- Trek Manarola-Riomaggiore (1 hour).

Between Riomaggiore and Portovenere there are about fifteen kilometres, and you accumulate heights for 900 meters uphill and a little less downhill. You can do two trek:
- Trek Riomaggiore-Campiglia,
- Trek Campiglia-Portovenere (2 hours).

The path Vernazza-Drignana-Soviore is 7 kilometres long, easy, with a total of 250 meters to climb and 625 meters to descend. Here are the two treks:
- Trek from Vernazza to Madonna di Reggio (45 minutes);
- Trek from Madonna di Reggio to Madonna Soviore.

The trek Levanto-Montrerosso is 9.5 kilometres long with just over 500 meters in height difference between climbs and descents.

The Palmaria Island path can be covered in half a day going about 9.5 kilometers. There are several climbs and descents which together can easily add more than a thousand meters.

Further north we have a nice 5 kilometres walk that can be covered in about two hours following the ancient link Bonassola-Framura. The slopes are about 500 meters uphill and downhill. The route starts from the station of Bonassola and ends on the station of Framura.