I have to confess to a love-hate relationship with Cinque Terre, a spectacular portion of the Italian Riviera, in Luguria, that has become very, very popular with tourists over the last ten or fifteen years, possibly owing to the 1997 designation of Cinque Terre as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I had never heard of it until a friend brought me there in 2000 and I must admit that I was completely enchanted by the colorful houses precariously hugging the cliffs, the charming harbors for the fishing boats, and the natural beauty of the coastline. For the uninitiated, the Cinque Terre, or Five Lands, is a series of five fishing villages teetering on the terraced rocks on the coast of the Ligurian Sea just south of Genoa. Since there is no automobile access in the villages you must explore them by foot and get from one to the other either by train or boat. Herein lies the problem.
What you do is take a train from La Spezia to Monterosso, the northernmost village, and work your way down the remaining four villages, or to Riomaggiore, the southernmost village, and work your way up. This can easily be done in a day-trip from Florence, and you can, in fact, drive from Florence and park in the only lot and walk about a mile to the second village from the north, Vernazza, but I don’t want to confuse you. Just take the train from La Spezia to Riomaggiore, trust me. So you get off the train, walk down the lovely path through the lovely village; you enjoy the gorgeous view, the shops, and you are ready to eat lunch. DON’T – you have to eat in Vernazza, three villages north, and I’ll tell you about it in a second.
After about an hour in Riomaggiore you realize that you’re ready to explore another of the 5 Terre because you’ve heard (maybe from me) that each one is unique and beautiful in its own right. To get to the next village, you can, at this point:
1. Hike along the trail, the “Sentiero Azzurro” that connects the Cinque Terre. I am not ashamed to say that I have not had the pleasure of hiking this, or any other trail in Italy due to the fact that, while in Italy, I am either too tired or too hungry, and too intimidated by those Scandinavian families who each stand over six-foot-two (and I’m only talking about the mom and teenage daughter here) with matching backpacks and hiking boots trekking shoes. Since I’ve never walked the walk I did some research to quote you the distance of the trail to assist you with your traveling decision, but I got completely sidetracked by a very informative website that quite colorfully breaks it down for us (and I quote): “The total time taken for the ‘journey’ is about 5 hours, but obviously the way can be divided in halting-places in every village.” Well, at least we have halting-places to look forward to over the next five-hours of cardio, but I’m still not tempted. To continue: “Equipment: The most famous stretch, the so-called Via dell’Amore (Street of Love), between Riomaggiore and Manarola can be covered also with slippers or high heels. For the other stretches we recommend trekking shoes.” Check the link if you think I made this up.
2. Take the train between the villages. My last visit to Cinqe Terre was on a Tuesday in May, 2014, and I’m telling you this so that if you are thinking that the next time you’re in the Liguria region of Italy on a Sunday in July you might drop by to check it out, please consider my weekday in Spring experience and multiply it by 20 or 50 or maybe 1000. During each ride from village to village, which ran from about 5 to 10 minutes, the trains were so crowded that our feet never touched the ground yet we were still standing. When the doors opened to enter, the train was already full but no one wanted to wait thirty minutes for the next one, so the 250 of us, working as one crazed team, pushed and groaned until we were all aboard. Men screamed; children cried for their mothers; anyone under five-foot-six risked suffocation. The Swedes and I were the only ones who were able to assess the damage from above the fray and it was not pretty. Once we arrived at the next village we stayed as long as possible since the only way out was to either board the train again or hike the trail, and since I had left my slippers and Louboutin pumps back at the hotel, that was no longer an option. Before getting on the next train I had the ingenious idea to ride on the top of the car, Slumdog Millionaire-style, but got pulled off by the conductor. While my memories of the experience may be a bit exaggerated due to the post traumatic stress, I assure you, my vision of Hell starts with a ride down the River Styx on that train.
3. Arrive by boat. The ferry runs from April until October from the ports of La Spezia and Portovenere to the villages of the Cinque Terre. I must say that on my next trip to Cinque Terre (!) I will definitely take a boat, although I think I’ll save my money for a private tour because I don’t have much confidence that the inexpensive ferry boats will be any less crowded than the trains and I’m pretty sure that they wouldn’t mind if anyone fell off. On my last trip I concluded that to view the villages from sea must be fantastic and I am in a position to highly recommend it, given the pain I endured.
Speaking of Portovenere, I did have the pleasure of enjoying this seaside town many years ago along with another Riviera village, Portofino. While both places are known to be slightly more high-end, budget-wise, than Cinque Terre, if you’re as neurotic as I am about crowds, you should consider them as an option for a more tranquil experience, and try to go on a weekday in the spring or fall.
Oh! I almost forgot! If you do go to the Cinque Terre, make sure you eat at Al Castello in the village of Vernazza, and order the pesto lasagne. I’ve written about it before, (Eating in Italy) but it bears repeating. I promise you it will make you almost forget the train ride.
