Walking the Cinque Terre

In its entirety, the walk connecting the five Cinque Terre villages would be spectacular. 12km of rugged cliffs along the coast, olive groves, over-burdened lemon trees, grape vines and beautiful Italian summer weather. It wouldn’t be an easy walk, but it would be special.

Unfortunately, the trail between Manarola and Corniglia, and Corniglia and Venazza is closed because of separate landslides. There is another option between Manarola and Corniglia, but it’s challenging. So our experience was limited to the Lover’s Lane walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola and the last 4km between Venazza and Monterosso. The area is now a national park so there are associated entry fees. We paid eight euro for a two-day pass.

The first part of the walk, as I touched on here, is easy going. It’s paved, flat and hugs the coast. It is a shame that so many couples felt the need to tell the world of their love by writing it on the walls and even on plants along the trail. The tradition of leaving a lock around gates or the railing has continued here. Although the most dramatic display of this I’ve seen is still Ponts des Arts in Paris.

From Manarola, the only way to visit Corniglia, other than taking the higher trail, is to catch the train. Because Corniglia is at the top of the hill, it isn’t serviced by the ferry that runs between the other villages. Once off the train, it’s 380 steps to the village. This seems the smallest of the villages, but that’s going by my own impressions. It’s a nice view of the surrounding mountains though.

Down the steps and back on the train to Venazza. This was one for two villages hugely affected by landslides last October. People lost their houses, businesses – everything. They are still recovering. We saw a little bit of the rebuilding efforts, but closer to the water everything looks as I imagine it should. We have some lunch and find that the start of the trail is straight across from where we’ve been sitting.

The trail is marked by white and red stripes. The marking is present along most of the trail. To get out of Venazza we must go up. And up. There’s warnings about having appropriate footwear and a specific mention not to wear high heels. I can only imagine what they’ve seen. We pass one woman in cork slip-ons and I wonder how long she’ll last.

The trail is fairly rocky. You have to keep an eye on your footing. Leaving the village we are surrounded by olive trees and grape vines. We see one house split in half: the interior exposed to the walkers. Evidence of the devastation of the landslide. As we near the top of the trail it opens up to reveal a great view of the coast and both Venazza and Monterosso. It also gets a little close to the edge in some places. I’m fine with it, but mum was staying close to the hill-side.

What goes up, must come down, and it isn’t long before that’s us. The downhill is a bit tricky – the track is more worn on this side. We also start to meet more people. I dread what this would be like in peak season. Not far from Monterosso we meet one of Italy’s most enterprising fellows – a man selling fresh squeezed lemonade from a little hut on the side of the trail. Two euro well spent. It takes us a bit over two hours. We took it easy, took lots of photos and enjoyed the walk, happily giving way to more energetic walkers.

Monterosso disappears from our view for the last part of the trail and we don’t see it again until we are there. The beach chairs and umbrellas are out in all their colour – although there’s still a lot of empty space. A gelato and a look around, then it’s back on the train to Riomaggiore.