Cinque Terre is a string of centuries-old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline in the Liguria region of Italy. The region was all but cut off until the arrival of the railway in the late 19th-century. In each of the 5 towns (all in La Spezia province), colourful houses and vineyards cling to steep terraces, harbours are filled with fishing boats and trattorias turn out seafood specialties along with the Liguria region’s famous sauce, pesto. The Sentiero Azzurro cliffside hiking trail links the villages and offers sweeping sea vistas. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1997).

Towns: Corniglia. | Manarola. | Monterosso al Mare. | Riomaggiore. | Vernazza.

Vineyards: ‘Vineyards have been planted since the Middle Ages on tiny terraces cut into the impossibly steep mountainsides that plunge directly into the sea. Today the whole landscape appears corrugated with row upon row of dry stone walls,’ writes Tom Bruce-Gardyne (1997).

Bibliography

Tom Bruce-Gardyne, ‘Life on the Edge’, Wine Magazine, February 1997, p.36-37.