The World Heritage Site villages called the “Five Lands” are located in the Liguria region of Italy. There are five of them, as the name says, each perched on cliffs and mountain slopes a moderate distance away from one another.
There are things to do in Cinque Terre in every season. You can visit the beaches in summer, and go hiking or see the local sights in spring and fall—or even during winter on days when the weather is good. One of the great things about hiking there is the variety of trails that go along the coast and into the interior. The most popular is a panoramic boardwalk that follows the coast, romantically named “the path of love”. It’s been closed for a long time due to landslides, but the good news is that it is scheduled to reopen on July 26.
Cinque Terre borders the sea, so you might assume that these are all fishing villages. But if you actually look into their history, it turns out they’re farming villages. As proof of this, the first one in the series, which is still thriving, is set inland with its vineyards and olive groves. You can see that these cultivation areas were then extended towards the coast in more recent times.
The thing I thought was most interesting was that all five of the villages have a cemetery at their highest point with the best views, and no developers are looking to build there.
Putting a cemetery on prime real estate might be a way of showing gratitude for the hard work that their ancestors put in to produce world-class crops in an area with so little flat land, planting vineyards and olive groves on every tiny piece of it they could find—even along steep slopes.
Each of the five villages has its own unique characteristics and tends to compete with the others, but they are even more committed to standing together. They have a system in place to prevent foreign real estate acquisition, for example, creating a community made up only of people who were born and raised there. They have strict regulations in place to protect the scenery—which also extends to the natural environment. For this reason, Cinque Terre preserves elements from its ancient past even today, making it a wonderfully attractive destination for people all over the world.
On the western edge of Cinque Terra is Monterosso, which is an interesting mix of new resort development and old city streets, each with its own characteristics and functions. Neighboring Vernazza is a tiny port town lined with colorful houses, and next to that is Corniglia, a quiet village perched atop steep cliffs. You can’t get there unless you go up a set of grueling steps that you can see from the train station.
Next to Corniglia is Manarola, which is the one you’ll probably see in the photos if you do a search for Cinque Terra. In other words, it’s the most picturesque of the five. At the easternmost edge is Riomaggiore. The fascinating thing about this village is the stark difference between the old and new parts of town. Long ago, homes were taxed based on their area, so the houses in the old district were built to be tall and narrow. This area is full of tall, thin houses packed together, while the buildings in the new part of town are all spread out because the tax laws had changed by the time they were built.
Modern times have made the homes of Cinque Terra even more colorful, much to the delight of tourists—but they were originally constructed from naturally-colored rock. If you look back at the five villages from the eastern end, you’ll see hidden in the shadows of the capes naturally-colored homes that seem to disappear into the surrounding mountainside. Invaders who climbed in from the southeast would have missed them entirely. It truly is a remarkable area.
Cinque Terre is a wonderful land of proud locals, forged through the hard work of their ancestors.
