Cinque Terre, which means five lands in Italian, is made up of…five lands (shocking, I know!). The villages are Corniglia, Manarola, Monterosso al Mare, Riomaggiore, and Vernazza. Cinque Terre is kept pristine and beautiful because of its UNESCO World Heritage status. Nobody is allowed to build there so this deters overcrowding and encourages space for more magnificent vineyards. Each one of Cinque Terre’s villages is built into the seaside and each house is a different color from the one next to it. These rainbow villages are aesthetic to the max. I suggest going to each of the villages for the full effect because each one has slightly different foods, wines, and landscapes. I saw each one by hiking the Sentiero Azzurro cliffside hiking trail.
The trail is moderate but does have many peaks and valley. Each new peak takes you to another village. You can see the ocean the entire time and there are picturesque scenes around every bend. Fruit trees also line the entire trail so you can get your electrolytes replenished with plenty of plums and figs along the way.
I booked my trip with Viator and was absolutely impressed. For more details, I have linked the tour here: Cinque Terre Tour. After the first big climb, we had lunch at a fresh seafood restaurant overlooking the sparkling waters down below in Monterosso. I am not too adventurous with food but this was delicioso.
After this, we went into a valley had a sample of the wine from each village. For an afternoon snack, I had pan fritto, or puffy fried bread stuffed with cheese.
We continued our hike, happily satiated and a little bit tipsy from the five wines. Alas, we make it to the final village. Here, there’s cliff diving, or a little less daring- wall diving, there’s a range of ways to get into the water from the village so it’s whatever floats your boat. There’s also ladders if “_____ diving” sounds a little too crazy. Either way, your legs are probably going to just force you into the water because it is so beautiful. On a sunny day, you can see every variation of blue and the phosphorescence dance on the waves like millions of diamonds. I chose to jump off of a wall that was closest to the sea cave. It was absolutely dreamlike.
To conclude the hike, we walked to the train station and got a ride and a ferry back to the first visited village. We spent some time here before heading back to Florence. If you fancy another bite to eat, there’s five pound Nutella jars that look big enough to fit a baby and there’s plenty of fresh fruit.
Italian Adventures Part 4 is up next! Check out my next blog “Roma and Ostia Antica Ruins” if hundreds of flavors of gelato and Pompeii alternatives tickles your fancy.