Trailblazing the Cinque Terre

Rita basking in the sunshine on the way to Monteroso

First of all I would like to thank Cindy Burr and Mariya Kovalyk for convincing me to include this part of Italy in our itinerary. Both had visited the place this past summer and raved about it on their return. In fact, Cindy gave me her travel book on Italy to check out the region. After reading it, I was so impressed I went out and bought the book.

Cinque Terre means five lands and today’s villages owe their existence to Castle Towers that were erected along the coast as watchtowers to alert Genoa of a sea attack from North African and Turkish pirates. People migrated to these towers for protection and the villages grew up around them. Fishing and vineyards were how the locals made their living prior to tourism. Wine making is still a going concern and there Cinque Terre wines are highly regarded in Italy.

We took the boat to Monterossa, the furthest of the five villages from Portovenre and planned to hike the trail in one day. The boat stops at 4 of the 5 villages (Corniglia does not have sea access) which gave us a chance to see the villages from the sea. The scenery is stunning from the high rugged cliffs that drop straight into the Med to vineyards and farmhouses that seemingly defy gravity by hanging onto sheer rock faces and the natural pine forest covers most of the coastline. After a 65 minute ride we reached our destination

The hike took us a little over 4 hours and it was spectacular. The trail between the first 3 villages is the hardest as it requires hiking up rough, narrow trails which were originally built by the villagers to access their vineyards. However, you are rewarded with majestic scenery of the rugged coastline. The trail between the last 2 villages is more like a walk around Stanley Park as it’s paved and tunneled to protect it from avalanches. We picked up the boat in Riomaggiore, the closest of the villages to Portovenere and headed home for a welcome shower and dinner. We will definitely do more mini hikes in Cinque Terre as you definitely need more than one quick visit to really appreciate each of the unique villages.

Riomaggiore in the morning sun from the boat

Rita on narrow trail between Monteroso and Vernazza

Village of Manarola from the vineyards

Village of Vernazza from the TrailT