Cinque terre, the land between the sea and the mountain.

A wonderful place in the Italian Riviera

The national park of Cinque terre

The first thing that strikes you in the Cinque Terre is the landscape: the mountain that is thrown into the sea, the villages perched on the rocky coast, the dry stone walls, the shrines, the woods. But it is a landscape that must also be read and interpreted. A “living” landscape has been defined. With all due respect to naturalist-purists, it is a landscape in society, between nature and man. Nature has played its part, but man has shaped it and preserved it. Without man, the Cinque Terre would not only not be the Cinque Terre, but would literally crumble within a few decades. In part they are already collapsing, or rather slipping and crashing, just where man has abandoned them. As demonstrated by the disastrous flood of 2011.

A world heritage Site

The Cinque Terre since 1997 are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the National Park was established as an institution in 1999. It is small (about 4,000 hectares), densely inhabited (4,500 people) but above all “visited” (someone could say “invaded”) from two and a half million tourists a year. UNESCO organization, includes in its list, the most important, artistic, architectural and beautiful sites of the world. Italy has the majority sites of the rest of the world.

Where is Cinque terre

Cinque Terre are in the west part of the Liguria region in the Riviera di Levante, is a place rich in old traditions and authentic flavors inside a very nice nature. Cinque Terre are composed by five villages on the coast between Punta Mesco and Punta Montenegro about 10 kilometers north west of the town of La Spezia. The park is composed by these five villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare.

Come to cinque terre

What tourism do in the Cinque Terre? On the beauty of the five tourist resorts there is not much to add and then just consult a Guide to know everything. The advice, perhaps obvious, is this: the sea is fine, but you have to go “inside” this landscape, or better … “above”! The park is equipped to provide guides (paper but especially HUMAN) and itineraries that we tried to tell even in the videos of this web series. It will also be tiring, but then … they are unique satisfactions!
The way to go is not so easy, that’s why we suggest to take a day tour to visit this beautiful place!