The Towns of Cinque Terre

Linda getting off the boat

Riomaggiore

Mural of the regular people of Riomaggiore

Showing the real structure of the building

Riomaggiore is the most non-touristy town of the five. At the far end from the beach resort of Monterosso and the attractive Vernazza, it probably gets fewer tourists, but still has some major attractions. First is the great pair of murals painted by Argentinian artist Silvio Benedetto depict the working people of the town. One of these adorns this town’s square built over the railroad line. The other greets train travelers at the station. We were disappointed that the trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola, washed out several years ago is still not fixed. It would have been fun to take this easy shore side walk between the two towns.

Swimming is popular

Manarola 

Manarola from the boat

Manarola is a pretty little town that, like most Cinque Terre towns straddles the stream flowing out of the mountains. We arrived by train and had to walk about 200 meters through a photo-lined tunnel to get to town. Once there, we saw that the town was divided by the train tracks with the more touristy section between the tracks and the beach. A relatively new plaza covers the train tracks. A lovely mosaic of local birds and fishes adorns the center of this new plaza. The restaurant was closed when we were there, but the location is great. We wandered down to the small harbor where we saw people swimming and noted the crane set up to raise and lower small boats into the harbor. On our walk up to the church overlooking the town, we passed a variety of old bridges crossing the river. At the top of the walk we also had some excellent views of the terracing used to make growing grapes and olives possible on the steep hillsides.

About one skinny body width wide

Corneglia

Corneglia from the trail

Corneglia is the smallest town of the five. Built on the hilltop, it is the one town with no real access to the sea. We visited here briefly after our walk from Vernazza. Stopping a the first bar we saw, we were treated to wine made by our server’s father. It was quite good as have most of the wines we have tasted here. That comes as no surprise, I’m sure. After a brief rest and a little food, we walked the 150 yards through town to the plaza overlooking the sea. We passed several restaurants and the church, but only stopped when we reached the end. As the waitress at the bar told us, visiting the town took all of 30 minutes, leaving us plenty of time to catch the shuttle down to the train.

                

Corneglia up close

Monterosso 

Monterosso is the largest and most touristy of the five towns. With its long beach it is popular with sun worshippers and families. The town really has two faces. The new town by the railroad station has the longest beach area and is well-populated with tourists and tourist shops. The old town is from the new town by a short tunnel through the cliff. It is also mostly flat with a good beach and a children’s play area in the town square. Two old churches also adorn the square along with some restaurants and shops. Since the trail from Vernazza ends at the old town, the restaurants on this end keep busy. We had trouble finding a table for four as we three hikers waited from Linda’s arrival by train.

After lunch, we visited the two 13^th century churches that face each other off the square. Both are faced in black and white; the smaller one arranged funerals and cared for widows and orphans. The skull sculptures were a bit disconcerting to see in a church. We then walked up and over the hill instead of through the tunnel so we could visit the old monastery and mausoleum. We also walked by the protective castle as we wandered toward the train. Our last interesting sight was the “Giant” built in the early 1900s. At one point it used to support a dance floor. The train ride back to Vernazza took another four minutes.

Vernazza, Cinque Terre

We chose to stay in Vernazza because it had the best deal and was centrally located. We could hike to two towns and easily take the train to the others. It turned out to be a great choice other than the fact that our room was 62 steep steps up from the street. We were able to move down 18 steps after two days, but that still leaves 44 steps each time we ventured up to our room. Still the room included breakfast and a 10% discount on the excellent dinners we had at the restaurant. We enjoyed eating freshly-caught anchovies cooked in a variety of ways and some of the best pesto made here in the region of its origin. Moreover, Paolo was a great host who made sure we were happy with everything.

 We quickly learned that wherever we wanted to go in Cinque Terre other than in Monterosso meant going up and down. Very little of these towns is on flat ground which of course is part of the charm and provides the beauty of the area. We were a bit surprised at just how close the towns are to each other. Looking across the water to Monterosso or Corniglia from Vernazza made seem like they would be easy to get to. We actually watched one swimmer take off for Monterosso one morning. It is only a four minute train ride between towns which is the only easy method of travel in the area. Even getting to the train station can be difficult. In Vernazza that meant a quarter mile up a relatively steep incline. Still that was better than other towns. In Corniglia, the train station is about 350 stairs below the town. Fortunately, there is a shuttle service available.

The train spends most of its time in tunnels between the towns.

These boats are always crowded

Vernazza is probably the most popular of the towns for tour groups because the train station drops people right off in the town where they can easily walk down the one main street to the harbor with many stops for food and shopping.  The harbor is graced with a large square and several restaurants along with the church which was also worth a visit. The trains came once an hour and disgorged tourists with their guides. The ferry that carries people from town to town did the same thing when the winds were light enough to allow people to board, something that is not always the case since the gang plank was at the bow of the boat and offered a roller coaster ride even in calm weather. Between 10 am and 4 pm we were joined  by the hordes making their quick visit to Cinque Terre. By the end of our week in Vernazza we became a bit like the locals who have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the tour groups. The difference was that we weren’t making any money off them.

Even rain didn't deter these visitors

One of the highlights of our time in Vernazza was the saxophone concert we attended in a church above the town. Four saxophones and a piano entertained us for two hours in the old church that is now the performance hall for a music school. The elevation above the town also provided some good views of the area. Another highlight is the old castle on the other side of town. Several hundred years ago people here were in danger from marauding Turkish and Africa pirates who would kidnap and enslave anyone they caught. The towers and castles provided some protection and an early warning system with fires atop the towers to warn the other towns.

View from the upper part of town. Most people walk up and down.
Cars are limited to early morning deliveries and emergencies.

Homes on the hillside

The weekly market on Tuesday was rather meager, perhaps due to the rain or maybe because tourist season is ending. Five trucks lined the main street. One sold dairy products. Another had fruits and vegetables, something available at several stores along the same street. The others sold women’s clothing, outdoor plants, and sundry items one would find at a Walgreen’s. The produce and dairy trucks did a healthy business. The others must have done ok to keep coming back.

Farming of grapes and olives requires some special skills and tools. The terracing must be kept up and that is hard work. Not all of the fields are still in use. 

Nets to catch the olives as they fall or are shaken from the trees.

These ingenious carts literally wind their way on tracks up and down through the fields.

This helicopter made a trip every two minutes. It worked for over an hour.
In the old days, those packages would be carried by humans or donkeys.

Trekking in Cinque Terre

People come to Cinque Terre for two reasons. Most come for the simple beauty of the landscape and the small cliff side villages. Others come also for the excellent trail network that has connected the villages for hundreds of years. These trails are a marvelous feat of engineering, but that does not mean they are in any way easy hikes. One must climb hundreds of feet and then descend those same hundreds of feet into the next town. The only exceptions to this are water side trails between the three villages to the southeast, Riomaggiore, Manarola, and Corniglia. Unfortunately, these were washed out by landslides and have not yet reopened. The first part was supposed to be open this summer. The other is not scheduled to be finished for two more years.

Hiking the entire way from one end to the other takes a good hiker about 5 hours to travel the 11 kilometers. Each individual section is about 1.5 hours unless you can take the beach side trails that are now closed.

Picnicking on the trail

Linda told you about our experience trekking from Vernazza to Corniglia. Steve, Patti, and I also traveled the more difficult trail from Vernazza to Monterosso and another trail up from Vernazza to Nostra Signora di Reggio, one of a series of sanctuaries along the ridgetop dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

This table is for the cats

The main trail from Vernazza to Monterosso is considered the most difficult. Certainly it was more difficult that to trail to Corniglia. It is a bit longer, but the real extra difficulty comes from the increase in climbing necessary and the narrowness of the trail in many places. Most of the climbing is done on stair steps carved out of the rocks or created ages ago by laying the rocks in a stair step fashion. It would be hard enough if the steps were uniform, but the method of building means that they are inconsistent and include some steps that are double a normal step in the US.

Where the trail is more or less flat, you are still walking on flat stones that make for an uneven trail. So even if the trail is flat it is still hard on the feet and legs. The Monterosso trail ends with a long descent of over 600 narrow steps. Fortunately for us the crowds had thinned by the time we reached them and we did not have to negotiate them while waiting for hikers coming up.

We were amazed at the number of hikers we met each day, easily in the hundreds. In many spots one group would have to wait for the oncoming hikers to negotiate the portions of the trail too narrow for two people to pass. Of course, some hikers don’t get the idea of sharing the trail and just barge ahead making for some interesting passages. Fortunately, this type is pretty rare.

Orange juice stand

 We had several interesting encounters along the trail. Two young ladies out in their party dresses. It’s hard to imagine what they were thinking. A few picnic tables create nice rest stops. One of them was set aside for some feral cats. As we neared Monterosso, we met one man selling his beautiful jewelry. Another man set up an orange juice stand using whole oranges. Another played his saxophone loud enough that we listened for about half an hour.

Musical entertainment

When we arrived in Monterosso, we stopped at a restaurant for drinks and lunch. Linda joined us from the train before we began to explore the town.

The trail into Monterosso is flat, sort of.

Our walk up the hill to the sanctuary was much less eventful. This trail is just one long uphill walk. No stairs, just a stone path with small alters along the way. We thought they might be stations of the cross, but some were so violent that we could not be sure. We only met half a dozen other hikers on this trail including one couple who had taken the long way from Monterosso to Vernazza. 

Trail to the Sanctuary

One of the alters to mark the way

Alter close-up

A small chapel about half way to the Sanctuary

The reward at the sanctuary was definitely worth the hike as the church has the most beautiful interior of any we saw in the five villages. A self-service food and drink stand is also a nice feature. The hike back down was much easier. 

Small fountain near the Sanctuary

The Sanctuary from below