Italy Road Trip: Cinque Terre
A friendly Scottish lady informed me the huge queue was caused by a cruise group being allowed a free day on land. I wasn't frustrated with her. I was frustrated with the one thousand mexicans who had overrun the station. Mexicans don't queue as politely as British people.
‘Cinque Terre’ translates as ‘Five Lands’. It is the nickname of a stretch of Italy’s western coastline between Genoa and Pisa. In 1999, it became Italy’s first protected national park, the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre. Before the tourism boom, local inhabitants had fought hard to carve out a life in an isolated, unforgiving landscape dominated by precipitous cliffs. Nowadays, locals are busy entertaining tourists, only returning to their old way of life through the winter. Cinque Terre is nowadays very well known. If you search ‘Italy’ on Pinterest, then Cinque Terre photos come up twice in the top 10 results. What do you think came up top? Yep, the Coliseum. Fair enough. It is very likely you have seen a photo of Cinque Terre before, inundated as we are with travel photos from every corner of the world. My bet would be that you have seen a vantage point view of the village of Vernazza, with its colourful houses crammed together around an inlet filled with small sailing boats. No doubt the photo was taken on a sunny day with a clear blue sky, reflecting the clear water of the Mediterranean Sea. I sense you nodding guiltily. Well, promise yourself you will travel there one day to see it with your own eyes. Only then can you perpetuate the social media cycle; capture a replica of the photo which fascinated you in the first place and post it all over social media. Lord knows I’m guilty. Here's the damning evidence.
The romance of Cinque Terre lies in its isolation; it retains authenticity in spite of increasingly heavy tourism. Firstly, there’s no major car park. The few unimpressive cars you will see belong to locals. There are no roads connecting the villages; to travel from one to another, you must drive inland to a main road, then connect to the access road down to the next village. Given the terrain, these roads offer only slow and difficult access. Instead, a relatively unobtrusive single rail line connects all five villages with Levanto to the north or La Spezia to the south. Tunnelled into the cliffs, it is a barely visible development within the landscape. Yet, it is capable of funnelling in (and out) thousands of tourists each day.
Similarly, there is limited corporate development. It is possible to find accommodation in any of the villages (a search on hostels.com provides 29 results), however none of them are notably large hostels. Exploring along the main street of each village will reveal plenty of restaurants and tourist shops, although none are notably large and none are recognised business chains. However, once off the main street, you realize much is as it always has been, with narrow streets and steep steps leading into residential cul-de-sacs or lightly-trodden trails that weave away from the village inland. The area is clearly thriving off the popularity. In fact, the wealth generated by tourism and the support of the government helped to resurrect the area when it fell victim to natural disaster. In October, 2011, torrential rain caused severe floods and mudslides, causing serious damage and claiming the lives of nine people. An evocative display below the train station at Vernazza documents the disaster, however few visible scars remain for tourists to see.
Getting There
We arrived in Cinque Terre from La Spezia to the south. We had slept the previous night in ‘I Colori di Mag’ hostel in La Spezia (http://www.bebicoloridimag.it/). It was decent enough, good value and in particular it included a very good breakfast (by continental standards). I indulged myself in two slices of chocolate cake (after a traditional breakfast, I didn’t just eat chocolate cake). The owners were welcoming and stayed up for our late check-in (9-10 PM) and in accordance with their colour scheme we were allocated the ‘yellow room’. If I was a Chinese tourist, I might have taken that offensively, but they seemed to genuinely enjoy the primary school theme they had created. They provided free parking in a safe compound. In the morning we made the very short drive to La Spezia train station. We had hoped to snatch up some cheeky free parking, but the few available free spots were taken, so we settled for one of the blue pay-per-hour spots, which were cheap enough at €0.75 / hr. Given it was midweek off-season, I was hopeful the station would be relatively quiet. It wasn’t. It was absolutely heaving. What had happened? A friendly, somewhat apologetic, Scottish lady was on hand to explain. She was enjoying a cruise trip and had been let loose for the day along with her husband (whom I only met later because he had excused himself from the bother of queueing). The problem was the whole bloody ship had emptied that morning. Was it patchily occupied by old British couples? I wish. It would have been a pleasure to queue alongside people who epitomise polite, fair queueing. In fact, with pretty much the sole exception of this Scottish couple, the ships was packed full with hundreds of Mexicans. They had descended in a horde on the unsuspecting station. They generated a cacophony of noise, bemusing the Italian officials, who worked hard to speak and understand English, but were horribly exposed to their unfamiliarity with Spanish. Throw in a few handfuls of Asians tourists, hooting in mandarin, and you begin to understand how chaotic the situation had become.
Whilst I was busy queueing, I interrogated Julie, the Scottish lady I had met. She explained that a vitamin powder company had plotted my downfall. She pulled out an innocent looking vitamin powder sachet from her bag with a grimace. I stared balefully at it, for all the mischief it had managed (yes, I have watched the Harry Potter films). The company was responsible for providing the Mexican families with free cruise tickets, we supposed won through some competition. In return, the Mexicans rose to the challenge of promoting the company boisterously through its merchandise. Most of them were decked out in purple t-shirts and track pants, purple backpacks and caps, all company branded. As it turned out, I had to queue for 45 minutes, when on any other day of the week I wouldn’t of had to wait longer than 5 minutes.
One important note for travellers on trains in Italy. After you have purchased your ticket and have reached the platform, you are required to get your ticket ‘validated’, usually done by having it stamped by a small blue machine on the platform. If you don’t, you could end up with a €50 fine at worst. So do yourself a favour and find one of those machines before you embark. So belatedly at 11:30 am we hopped on the train bound for Cinque Terre; first stop, Riomaggiore. We decided to stay on the train to reach the most northern village, Monterosso al Mare, from which point we could hop back south one village at a time. The journey took a little less than half an hour; the duration between each village being 5 minutes or less.
The Game Plan
Unfortunately didn’t find enough time to visit every village. Roughly speaking, including the time spent awaiting trains to switch villages (which, in October at least, were frustrating infrequent, roughly every half hour, and often delayed), we spent two hours in each village. So we covered three villages, from 12 – 6 pm. I think really you need to spend that amount of time in each village to explore at a reasonable pace. Remember that walking around is a little more exerting than normal because of the steep paths and steps. Assuming you don't get delayed by a huge crowd of Mexicans, you'd probably manage to see four of the five. As a tourist there is always a pressure to squeeze in as much as possible, to ‘make the most of your time’, but sometimes you find that rushing around diminishes your enjoyment, and that spending such little time in one place stops you from gaining a clear, memorable impression. So I would urge you to slow down and enjoy the moment; forget about what else you might be missing and focus on enjoying where you are. After all, you picked that place because you thought you would really enjoy it, so now follow through and do it justice! Don’t just see it. Feel it, experience it, remember it. So relax and don’t stress; you will probably enjoy the day more exploring three villages properly than you would rushing through all five.
Monterosso
Let me give you my impressions of the three villages I explored. Monterosso al Mare is one of the larger, more developed villages. It is the most northerly village. Straight off the train you see three things; coastline, beach and shops. The view looking out at sea and along the coast was beautiful; we were lucky enough to be basking in sunshine at that moment. I remember the sea shimmered a beautiful light shade of blue. However, I felt the row of shops so blatantly loaded with tourist souvenirs spoiled my romantic impression of an isolated little village. It’s worth noting that neither Vernazza or Corniglia boast a beach, so if you do want to spend an hour or so relaxing on a beach then do it here.
The best views of this village are along the coastline, so we spent our time here hiking along the coast as opposed to exploring the interior of the village. Regardless, you have to hike a short distance from the station into the village. If you take the high path along the coast, rather than going under the tunnel, you will be rewarded with the remains of an old watch outpost, where love locks hang from an iron grate window looking out across the sea.
The coastal path we followed would have eventually lead us all the way down into Vernazza, however we simply intended to walk a little way down and then return. The trail was good, a little steep, starting with a winding paved path. We had passed the boats under their striped covers along the harbour, a café under the shade of bright yellow umbrellas and a relatively fancy hotel which was closed during the off-season. As you progress the path narrows, twisting to follow the contours of the cliffs. Having climbed steadily uphill, turning around you get a wonderful view of the village with the beach in front and precipitous cliffs behind. It is notably colourful, as all the five villages are, with houses painted yellow, orange and pink. A church tower, seemingly ubiquitous within Italian towns, draws the eye. Behind the village, the green terraces rise steeply, up and up into the mountainous interior. After ambling along for half an hour, admiring the coastline, we decided to turn back, fancying a coffee at the café we had passed before.
Vernazza
This was my personal favourite of the three I explored. It was once a subsistence village which produced minor exports of fish, wine and olive oil. It came under the nominal control of the Republic of Genoa, who could not always be there to protect it against the pirates who sporadically raided the coast. The village remains very small and shows minimal signs of major development. It is so small, in fact, that you can squeeze the whole of it behind your camera lens (no wide angle tricks, just a standard lens). This particular view of the village, from the heights of the ridged trail that leads back to Monterosso, is the postcard picture most readily found on google images. As you might imagine, I was very excited to snap the shot for myself, but also to stand, admire and absorb that view for a while longer whilst I regained my breath from the hike up. I actually managed to take a wrong turn getting there originally, approaching some stairs near the church by the harbour that led to a cul-de-sac. Moving down the edge of the square away from the church, I spied a steep set of stairs climbing up into a residential street which whispered to me. I followed them and turned left, emerging from the narrow alley of quaint houses into the breezy open air of the coastal ridge. On my way up I skipped past a modest farming estate and stared up in wonder at the steep ridges of the mountains upon which agricultural terraces had somehow been entrenched. I became somewhat overexcited and conscious that Andre was waiting for me down by the harbour, I rushed up in five minutes. It is probably a 15 or 20 minute walk to the viewpoint otherwise.
I liked that Vernazza was very compact. You walk down from the station (the only way to go really is down to the harbour), where you are flanked on both sides by colourful tourist shops, then after a few minutes you arrive at the main square with the harbour beyond it. The square is surrounded by restaurants, as well as a small church. In the summer, the harbour is full to the brim with boats bopping in the gentle waters, however in October there were only two brave boats still anchored. Instead, plenty of the boats had been dragged on land, lined up along the middle of the street and nestled into the centre of the square. If you climb up through the residential section of the village opposite the coastal trail, you will reach an old stone watch tower, built to guard against pirates. You can climb the tower for panoramic views in all directions, admiring the sea and coastline as well as looking back down at the village, studying and counting all the different colours of the houses. Allegedly they were coloured differently so that their owners could identify them from around the harbour, as a means of keeping a watch on their wives. They must have had very good eye sight I suppose. When I visited, the paint actually wasn’t particularly bright and was peeling away. Perhaps they get a lick of paint before the summer season hits. That, or those sneaky travel guide photographers have been mischievously tweaking the contrast on their photos (ummm, guilty!).
Corniglia
Corniglia is nestled up high on a cliff; it is the only village here not directly adjacent to the sea. It is reached by a stairway of 382 steps, so it requires some exertion to reach, but it’s worth it. To be honest, hustling your way up the Lardarina isn’t that difficult and doesn’t take that long. If Andre can do it with ‘’a gammy knee’’, then you can. Is there an easy way up? Well, yes, but don’t take it, earn your reward with a little climb.
There is a dual view from Corniglia. On one hand, once you get to the far side of the village, you can look down and out across the sea. On the other hand, in and around the village you can look up and across to the mainland, where you will see cultivated terraces and vineyards clinging resolutely to their steep green slopes. The village itself is deceptively large and down in the narrow streets it is easy to feel slightly lost as you follow a predominantly one way pedestrian system. However, you’re not getting truly lost and losing your bearings temporarily can be a fun experience. The alleyways are very quaint; twisting, turning, rising, falling, and leading you to explore tunnels and archways. Along the way you pass tall houses, church grounds, as well as scattered shops, cafes and restaurants.
Where you eventually want to end up is along the sea view terrace at the far point of the village. Perched further out on a thumb of coastline protruding out into the sea, it is the perfect vantage point to see the coastline in perspective. There is a café terrace there which provides a perfect place to relax and refuel. Looking out at the sea, remember that you are situated halfway along the coastline of Cinque Terre, roughly in between Pisa and Genoa. If you turn right, you can follow the coastline with your eye as it weaves north towards Genoa. Monterosso is easy to spot in the distance. If you lean out and look carefully inland as the coast twists east, you can also spot Vernazza nestled shyly into the coastline. Beyond, the coastline weaves south towards Pisa, where you can just about make out Manarola in the distance.
Corniglia is as nice as the other villages, with its own subtleties to appreciate, but bear in mind it takes a little while to hike up to the village from the station and back again. If you find yourself pushed for time, this might be the village worth skipping.
Judgement
Cinque Terre is a wonderful attraction and comes highly recommended overall. The villages are so quaint and picturesque. They are perfect to explore on foot, whether that’s by weaving through narrow old alleyways, strolling the harbours or hiking up along the coastal trails. There are plenty of cafes, restaurants and a few tourist shops, but otherwise there is a pleasing absence of commercial development. The best part is that each village offers up a nuanced experience, so each village feels new and interesting. All the while, you are surrounded by beautiful scenery; by the sea on one side and by the mountainous cliffs, steeply tiered terraces and vineyards on the other.
A day trip is sufficient to take it all in. Transport links in and out (as well as in between each village) are excellent. It is a tall order to explore all five villages in a single day so it might be better to focus on picking out three in particular to explore. Be prepared for a fair amount of walking, although you are amply rewarded. Finally, bear in mind the villages can get extremely busy and crowded, so try to arrive as early as possible or otherwise avoid weekends or even visit in the off season if possible.
If you are planning a visit, consider staying in nearby Florence, then travelling towards the coast and staying overnight in La Spezia, as this will allow you an early start in CInque Terre.