The famous national park of Italy. It is located in the province of La Spezia of the administrative region of Liguria. In 1997, UNESCO included the park on the World Heritage List.
The Cinque Terre region (Italy) is located five kilometers from La Spezia. It consists of five fishing villages - Monterosso, Corniglia, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza. In all these localities, car driving is prohibited, except for Monterosso, in which traffic is restricted.
This resort is atypical for Italy, there are no monotonous hotels and numerous restaurants and cafes. Italians themselves and lovers of a quiet and relaxing holiday from all over the world come to the Cinque Terre. Italy never ceases to amaze with its delightful holiday destinations. Confirmation of this is this paradise.
National park
Fishing villages in these places appeared in the XI century. The most beautiful of them is the village of Vernazza, in which only 1000 residents live. All the houses in it are single-story. This gives it a unique flavor.
The second village - Manarola - is even smaller. It is inhabited by 450 inhabitants. He became famous for his amazing tower houses. The image of the village became the “face” of the Cinque Terre. Italy carefully preserves the unique architectural monuments preserved in this place from the Middle Ages.
The smallest village in the region is Corniglia, where only 245 people live. It is located on the cliffs, at an altitude of eighty meters above sea level. In the village, of course, there is no beach, but you can easily get on it if you go down 337 steps down. Corniglia has picturesque nature that attracts tourists here.
In Monterosso, the only one of the five villages, limited car traffic is allowed. 1,500 people live here. This place is famous for its magnificent beaches.
The largest village in the region is Riomaggiore. It is inhabited by 1750 inhabitants. First of all, everyone who wants to see the Cinque Terre comes here. A map of Italy shows that it is from here that it is most convenient to start a trip to other villages.
How to get to the Cinque Terre
From Genoa, all local trains stop in the villages of Cinque Terre (Italy). How to get from one village to another? Either by train, or by the "green bus", that is, by environmentally friendly transport. However, the most pleasant thing here is to take a walk. The longest passage through these picturesque places from one village to another will not take more than 2 hours.
What to see in the Cinque Terre
The villages are interconnected by paths of extraordinary beauty. Some of them are simple and perfectly even, others are complex, rising high into the mountains. Everyone who climbed them will never forget the stunning panoramic views of the liturgy coast and coastal landscape. The most difficult trail to climb is 40 km long, tourists overcome it in about 12 hours. The simplest is the Cote d'Azur. Traveling through it, you can get around in five hours all the villages of this area.
The most popular attraction that everyone who wants to see in Cinque Terre (Italy), the photo of which you see in this article, is the Path of Love. It connects Manarola and Riomaggiore. This path, the length of which does not exceed two kilometers, is fanned by a beautiful legend of love. In the middle of the way you will see a monument to lovers who died due to hatred of the inhabitants of the two villages and stayed together forever.
In Riomanjor, tourists can see the ruins of the castle, which was built to protect the inhabitants of the village from the raids of the Saracens. It is a pity, but nowadays you can see only two towers.
Monterosso
There are a lot of interesting things in this village. This, of course, is a monument to Neptune, which sits on a rock and holds a huge shell on its shoulders - once there was a dance floor in it, but during the war the site was damaged by bombing, and later storms did their job. Tourists who visited the Cinque Terre leave reviews admiring. This magnificent statue still impresses guests of the Cinque Terre.
The second attraction of the village is the Aurora tower, which has been preserved from a fortress built in the Middle Ages. The tower is located on the border of the new and old cities. From it you can observe the ruins of the castle, the panorama of the sea. Nearby is the Church of St. Francis and the Capuchin Monastery. Here you can see many unique religious paintings by famous Italian masters.
Wine Museum
In Manarola, visitors can visit the museum, which is located in the homeland of white wines. It was created as a monument to the shaketra, an exquisite wine made from amber grapes grown on terraces that hang over the sea. Here you can trace the history of the production of this wine, buy a bottle, take part in the tasting. Nearby are wine cellars where tastings of the best wines produced in the Cinque Terre are held. Italy is famous for its wines, but in these places they are special.
Beaches
The coast in these places is steep and rocky. Therefore, the beaches here are pebble, with the exception of Monterosso, in which the beaches are sandy. Not far from Corniglia is the nudist beach, which can be accessed through an abandoned railway tunnel.
Cinque Terre: hotels
There are quite a lot of hotels on such a small territory of the hotel - these are inexpensive and comfortable hotels and luxurious apartments designed for the most demanding guests. Many of them are in ancient castles and houses built on the coast. Terraces and balconies offer magnificent views.