Destinations

Tirrenian Sea Coastline

Cinque Terre – Golfo dei Poeti

Le Cinque Terre are five villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso facing onto the Ligurian sea (south), along 18 km of rocky coastline featured by lovely bays, beaches and deep sea, crowned by surrounding mountains on its backside (north). This naturalistic heritage of extraordinary beauty, declared UNESCO unique site since 1997,  is cultivated in vertical layers of vineyards  and olive groves, lined by old dry stone walls and mule tracks, today transformed into hiking paths of breathtaking views.

Historically Monterosso and Vernazza sprang up first in Middle Ages, whilst the other villages grew later, under military and political supremacy of Genova. In the XVI century to oppose the attacks by the Turks, the inhabitants reinforced the old forts and built new defence towers, but soon the Cinque Terre knew a decline. The railway line, finished in 1874, brought new life and allowed the local people to get out from their isolation. It was a huge work for the time,  it saw the construction of many tunnels running a few steps from the sea, often built on artificial embankments. The original line has been modified over the years to stabilize the soil.

Since 1999, the entire territory of the Cinque Terre is a National Park in order to protect this landscape, where man has created a stable life in harmony with nature. In the same year, was established the Natural Protected Marine Area of the Cinque Terre, between Punta Mesco on the west and Punta Montenero on the east and divided into three groups with different levels of protection in order to protect the marine environment and the biodifferences. The National Park offers many hiking itineraries, well maintained , well marked, The National Park offers hiking trails, well maintained, well marked and divided by degree of difficulty. Because of the flood in October 2011 and a very rainy winter in 2012, the path called “Via dell’Amore” between Rio Maggiore and Manarola is still closed.

Il Golfo dei Poeti extends from Portovenere to Lerici and includes the island of Palmaria and has at its center the city of La Spezia. This nickname arises from the fact that over the centuries many poets, writers and artists have spent periods of residence in the villages of the Gulf, struck by the beauty of this “amphitheater of water.” Amongst them the poet Lord Byron and the writer Percy Bysshe Shelley, amongst the Italian poets Gabriele d’Annunzio and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the writer and director Mario Soldati, the journalist Indro Montanelli.

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