Cinque Terre: On Foot and by Train

Today we aimed to see the other three villages in Cinque Terre. Our fears about huge crowds on the Liberation Day holiday were unfounded, fortunately! We started early, taking a train to Corniglia—two villages north of us. Corniglia is the only one of the five villages that does not have a seacoast. A short shuttle bus ride helped cut out a climb up to the village from the station and to the starting point for our hike. After looking around quiet Corniglia, we set off on the trail to Vernazza. This hike turned out to be easier than yesterday’s, although not level, by any means. Along the way, we passed more terraced gardens, vineyards and coastal views.

Vernazza completely fills a rocky promontory jutting out into the sea, with a fortress tower at the far point. With such a small area and because of its beach and picturesque setting, it was very crowded with visitors in the center of the town. We made our way to edge of town to climb the fortress tower, leaving some of the crowds behind and getting amazing views.

After a nice lunch (traditional Tuscan soup called Ribollita for some of us), we decided to take the train to the next town rather than hike, as we’d originally planned. The mapping guides have rather underestimated distance and elevation gain, and our knees had seen enough ups and downs.

In the northernmost village of Monterosso al Mare, a port city which is much larger than the other four villages, we wound our way up to the highest point to get the views, of course. That highest point turned out to be a Cappuchin Friars monastery, and somewhere behind closed doors from the publicly accessible church, the friars were holding a service with Gregorian chants—it was eerie and awe-inspiring at the same time.

We had hoped to take the ferry back along the full length of the five villages (and many more hillside villages in-between), but the seas were too rough for the ferry to land at our tiny port in Riomaggiore. This time no one got left behind on the train platform.Read more