Tucked between Genoa and Pisa, in a mountainous and seductive corner of the Italian Riviera, likes the Cinque Terre (CHINK-weh-TAY-reh) – five villages carving a good life out of difficult terrain. Within a traffic-free charm – a happy results of natural isolation – the Cinque Terre offers a rugged alternative to the glitzy Riviera resorts nearby.
Each village fills a ravine with a lazy hive of human activity. Calloused locals and sunburned travelers enjoy the area’s unique mix of Italian culture and nature. There isn’t a Fiat or museum in sight – just sun, sea, sand (well… pebbles), wine, and pure, unadulterated Italy.
Choose a home base according to how cut off you’d like to be from the outer world: resort Monterosso, cover-girl Vernazza, hilltop Corniglia, photogenic Manarola, or amiable Riomaggiore.
This breathtakingly scenic six-mile stretch of coast was first described in medieval times as the “five lands” (cinque terre). Tiny communities grew up in the shadows of castles, which doubled as lookouts for pirate raids.
As the threat of pirates faded, the villages prospered, catching fish and cultivating grapes. But until the advent of tourism in this generation, the towns remained isolated. Even today, each village comes with its own traditions, a distinct dialect, and a proud heritage.
Other Italians think of locals here as “mountain people by the sea.”
The Cinque Terre is now a national park (founded in 1999), where all can enjoy the villages, hiking, swimming, boat rides, and evening romance of one of God’s great gifts to tourism. While the region is well-discovered and can get jam-packed, you’ll never see happier, more relaxed tourists.
Vernazza
With the closest thing to a natural harbor – overseen by a ruined castle, a stout stone church, and a pastel canyon of fisherfolk homes – Vernazza is the jewel of the Cinque Terre. Only the regular slurping up of the train by the mountain reminds you of the modern world.
The action is at the harbor, where you’ll find outdoor eateries ringing a humble plaza, a restaurant hanging on the edge of the castle, and a breakwater with a promenade, corralled by a natural amphitheater of terraced hills.
Proud of their Vernazzan heritage, the town’s 500 residents like to brag: “Vernazza is locally owned. Portofino has sold out.” Fearing change, keep-Vernazza-small proponents stopped the construction of a major road into the town and region.
Families are tight and go back centuries; you’ll notice certain surnames (such as Basso and Moggia) everywhere.
During the day in season the tiny harborfront and one main street are clogged with gawking group excursions. But early and late Vernazza is the cool and content domain of locals… and travelers who are lucky enough to call the town home for a couple of nights.
Join (or sit on a bench and watch) the locals devoting their leisure time to taking part in the passeggiata – strolling lazily together up and down the main street, doing vashe (laps). Explore the characteristic alleys called caruggi. Learn – and live – the phrase “la vita pigra di Vernazza” (the lazy life of Vernazza).
Vernazza Stroll
Harbor Square – Vernazza, with the Cinque Terre’s only natural harbor, was established as the sole place boats could pick up the fine local wine. The two-foot-high square stone at the foot of the stairs is marked Sasso del Sero (stone of tallow).
Workers crushed animal flesh and fat in its basin to make tallow, which drained out from the tiny hole below. The tallow was then used to waterproof boats or wine barrels.
Stonework is the soul of the region. It is fascinating to see and appreciate the medieval stonework and chestnut timbers of the restaurant interiors facing this harbor.
Towns along this coast were designed as what’s called a “Ligurian Palazzata” – an interlinked series of buildings intended to provide protection from seaborne attacks. Vernazza’s harborfront retains its thousand-year-old “stockade” of buildings, connected with tiny and easy-to-defend staircases leading from the vulnerable harbor higher into the community.
Vernazza’s Church
Vernazza’s harborfront church sits on the tiny piazza, decorated with a river-rock mosaic. This popular hangout spot is where the town’s older ladies soak up the last bit of sun, and kids enjoy a patch of level ball field.
The church, nestled awkwardly into the rocks, is unusual for its east-facing (rather than the standard west-facing) entryway. With relative peace and prosperity in the 16th century, the townspeople doubled the size of their church, extending it west over what was the little piazza that faced it.
Enter under a statue of St. Margaret, patron saint of Vernazza, and climb the stairs into the nave. The space was originally dark (with just the upper slit windows) before the bigger gothic window were added with the 16th-century expansion. The lighter pillars in the back mark the extension.
Three historic portable crosses hanging on the walls are carried through town during religious processions. These are replicas of crosses that (locals like to believe) Vernazzan ships once carried on crusades to the Holy Land.
“New Beach”
This is where the town’s stream used to hit the sea back in the 1970s. Older locals remember frolicking on a beach here when they were kids, but the constant, churning surf eventually eroded it all the way back to the cliff. When the 2011 flood hit, it blew out the passageway and deposited landslide material here from the hills above. In the flood’s aftermath, Vernazza’s main drag and harbor were filled with mud and silt. Workers used the debris to fill in even more of this beach. But as time goes on, the forces of nature are once again taking it away. It is now blocked off by a fence and is not able to be reached.
Vernazza’s “Main Street”
This is Vernazza’s “commercial center” – souvenir shops, wine shops, the Bule Marlin Bar (a good nightspot), and so on. The small stone chapel with iron grillwork over the window is the tiny Chapel of Santa Marta, where Mass is celebrated on special Sundays.
You’ll walk by a gelateria, bakery, pharmacy, grocer, and another gelateria. There are plenty of fun and cheap food-to-go options here]. While it’s easy to get distracted by all the tourists, try to see through them to notice locals gong about their business.
Just before the train tracks, there is a big poster which shows photos of the 2011 flood (alluvione) and the shops it devastated. “The 25th of October” is a day that will live forever in this town’s lore. Vernazza is built around one street – basically a lid over the stream in its ravine.
On that fateful day, the surrounding hills acted like a funnel, directing flash-flood waters right through the middle of town. Four townspeople lost their lives. Imagine this street from here to the harbor buried under 13 feet of mud. Every shop, restaurant, and hotel on the main drag had to be rewired, replumbed, and re-equipped.
The second set of tracks was renovated to lessen disruptive noise. At the base of the stairs a handy monitor displays up-to-the-minute schedules for arriving and departing trains (including any running late – ritardo). The walls under the tracks serve as a sort of community information center.
“Millstone Square”
The millstones set on the square are a reminder that the town stream (which goes underground here and which we’ve been walking over since leaving the harbor area) once powered Vernazza’s water mill. You can still see its tiny “river” if you follow this road up a few steps.
Until the 1950s, the river ran openly through the center of town. Old-timers recall the days before the breakwater, when the river cascaded down, charming bridges spanned the ravine, an the surf sent waves rolling up Vernazza’s main drag.
Corralling this stream under the modern street, and forcing it to take a hard turn here, contributed to the damage caused by the 2011 flood. After the flood, Swiss engineers redesigned the drainage system, so any future floods will be less destructive.
They also installed nets above the town to protect it from landslides.
Notice the World Wars Monument – dedicated to those killed in World Wars I and II. Not a family in Vernazza was spared. Listed on the left are soldiers morti in combattimento who died in World War I; on the right is the WWII section. Some were deported to Germania; others – labeled Part (for partigaiani, or partisans) – were killed while fighting against Mussolini.
