Like nothing I’ve ever seen before. That’s the best way to sum up our day visiting the five towns that make up Cinque Terre – a UNESCO World Heritage Site along the west coast of Italy.
From Florence we hopped on a bus for the roughly two-hour ride to the La Spezia train station, crossing the beautiful Italian countryside.
Accessible only by train – or by walking – each town is nestled in separate impossibly steep valleys that come to a crashing halt at the edge of the Ligurian Sea. Each a postage stamp of color and vibrancy in their own unique way.
To avoid the morning crowds, we started at Manarola and were immediately enchanted. From there, we took the train to successive stops in Corniglia, Vernazza (of the movie Luca fame) and Monterosso al Mare. [In full disclosure, Kaitlin, Madeline and David hiked the mile-and-a-half between stops 2 & 3 in the 85°, 85% weather. After all five of us climbed the 376 steps to get to Corniglia.]
After checking out the sights in Monterosso, we took a boat ride down the coast to Riomaggiore that allowed us to view each town in succession from a completely different vantage point.
The Cinque Terre region is know for its seafood (obviously) and one-of-a-kind pesto that includes potatoes and green beans among the more traditional ingredients. Fortunately, we were able to enjoy both as part of the tour.
As an aside, “farm to table” isn’t a marketing slogan in Italy, it’s basically every meal. The seafood was unbelievably fresh and the pesto pasta was full of rich flavor.
As we head back to Florence sunburned and tired – but buoyed by an unforgettable day, we already can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.
Buona notte.
On the Road with the Ashbys 