The Cinque Terre is the name of an area in the Liguria region of Italy, consisting of a string of 5 small villages that perch along the rugged coastline. It’s also a UNESCO world heritage site. We had read that you could hike between them along the coast or take a more challenging route through the hills. There was no road for private cars apparently, and travelers were encouraged to ride the Cinque Terre Express from Spezia, which would make frequent stops throughout the day at Riomaggiore, Manorola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare villages. This area is a mob scene in the summer months, so once again we were making the most of the off season.
It was a 3 hour trip each way so we were on a 7.30 train from Florence, with connection’s in Pisa, Spezia. No worries though, our feet were happy for a slow entry into the hiking portion of the day after hoofing it around the city the day before. This time we managed to get on all the correct trains and we arrived at Monterosso about 10.30 am as planned. Oh, from Pisa to Spezia we passed through Carrara and could see the famed white marble in giant blocks beside the tracks and just make out the quarry in the mountains.
At the information booth in Monterosso we were informed that the easy lower trails were closed for maintenance but you could use at your own risk, although this was not encouraged. The higher trails were open and the section from Corniglia to Manorola would take about 2 and 1/2 hours to complete. There wouldn’t be time to hike between them all now, so we opted to walk around Monterroso, visiting the “St Francis and the wolf” statue and the Capuchin monastery, before taking the train through Vernazza and disembarking at Corniglia. After a quick survey of the area we decided to walk up the hill via the meandering road instead of taking the massive staircase to get to the church where the trail head was located. There was a flagstone path for about 10 minutes, which changed to a wide goat path with looser rocks…and up it went for about an hour.
There were beautiful views back to Corniglia and Vernazza. The trail went up and down a bit before flattening out for a 30 minute easy section between the terraced vineyards that created this unique area of coast. (According to a sign we passed, “Cia’n” is the term for the cultivatable land between the terracing). The trail finally turned downward with accompanying stone steps, and by the time we reached Manorola, our legs were all a-quiver and feet pretty tender. The buildings in the towns were painted in pastels with a few brighter shades thrown in, and they were stacked on top of, and beside each other. It felt like the colors were more subdued than in the pictures we had seen. ( Which could have been from the blindingly bright sun that day, or that the towns we missed were the ones in the pictures!) After Manorola, we decided we had enough time to get off the train again in Riomaggiore and have a quick look around..alas the train stopped in a tunnel and we ( and 6 other passengers), couldn’t get off..onward to Spezia for a much needed spritz it was then!
