{"id":16,"date":"2008-10-11T12:49:41","date_gmt":"2008-10-11T16:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=12"},"modified":"2008-10-11T12:49:41","modified_gmt":"2008-10-11T16:49:41","slug":"a-trip-to-le-cinque-terre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/a-trip-to-le-cinque-terre\/","title":{"rendered":"A trip to Le Cinque Terre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last summer I had the fortune to stay for a few days in Vernazza, one of the five small former fishing villages that form Le Cinque Terre <\/strong>(lit.: The Five Lands) in the Ligurian Riviera di Levante<\/strong>. We stayed in a small apartment on the first floor of an old building located in the harbor piazza just a few steps away from the clear blue sea. Yes, I’m spoiled! My uncle’s family is originally from the village and he still owns the family apartment. It was great to sit on the minuscule balcony in the evening watching the passeggio<\/strong> going on below, or seeing the sun lighting up the colorful buildings early in the morning.<\/p>\n

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Towering buildings and narrow alleyways (carrugi<\/strong>) scrambling up the steep escarpment are characteristic features of Vernazza. The four other villages that together with Vernazza make up the Cinque Terre are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia and Monterosso. These, together with an extensive area of sea have now been designated as a National Park and UNESCO world heritage site (see: http:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/en\/list\/826).<\/p>\n

The best way to get to the Cinque Terre is by battello<\/strong> (the passengers’ ferry) from the main town of La Spezia set in the Golfo dei Poeti<\/strong> (the Poets’ Gulf), so named because of the many famous literary figures it attracted in the\u00a018th century, in particular the British poets Byron and Shelley.<\/p>\n

The battello leaves from La Spezia harbor (an important naval base) and calls first at Portovenere (lit.: Venus Port!), a small picturesque village unique in Liguria in that its line of colorful case a torre<\/strong> (tower-like houses) hems the quay, turning the village into a fortified medieval citadel. Just off the coast are the islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto, full of caves and grottoes. This area is very popular with tourists and VIPs, so look out for posh yachts: we saw the fashion designer Cavalli’s private yacht, which changes color depending on the angle you view it from, wow!.<\/p>\n

Continuing to the West you come into the Territorio di Tramonti<\/strong> (lit.: territory between the mountains), where the five hamlets of the Cinque Terre are set amongst vineyards and cliffs. During the boat trip you’ll see some isolated houses built near the sea on the cliff faces. They were (and sometime still are) used during the vendemmia<\/strong> (the grape harvest) by the villagers who own the land. These steep cultivated terraces can only be reached by boat and the grapes too are taken away by boat. This area produces one the rarest Italian DOC wines, sciachetr\u00e0<\/strong>, which is made from the local sundried grapes.<\/p>\n

The battello stops at all the villages except Corniglia which is perched inaccessibly up on the cliffs and therefore lacks a harbor. The other four villages have no proper dock, only a small gangway joins the boat to the landing place, therefore when the sea is rough the boat can’t land. In fact, before the railway line was built, these villages were completely cut off for days during bad weather. The only alternative was a narrow footpath that climbs up through the cliffs amongst vineyards, orchards and the luxuriant macchia mediterranea, <\/strong>the typical Mediterranean vegetation.<\/p>\n

Riomaggiore and Manarola are linked by a beautiful path cut out of the sheer rock and romantically called Via dell’Amore<\/strong>. Between agaves, cactuses and pine trees you catch glimpses of the emerald green sea below you.<\/p>\n

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Buon viaggio!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Last summer I had the fortune to stay for a few days in Vernazza, one of the five small former fishing villages that form Le Cinque Terre (lit.: The Five Lands) in the Ligurian Riviera di Levante. We stayed in a small apartment on the first floor of an old building located in the harbor…<\/p>\n

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