CINQUE TERRE – The Gift that Keeps on Giving

For the luxury-minded traveler, Cinque Terra is the gift to yourself that never stops giving. It will provide you with a lifetime of memories that, because of the unusual scenic treasures, will stand out from the other trips you have taken in your lifetime. It is both a National Park as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A masterpiece of coastal beauty, it shares words like insanely picturesque, deeply colorful and wildly natural all at the same time. Recently, it has been named the “Cinque Terre Riviera.”

Located on the Ligurian coastline west of Spezia in Northern Italy, it is easy to get there by train (visit the TrenItalia website) from any of the larger cities in Italy.

“Cinque Terre” translates to “Five Lands” in English. It is a string of five ancient seaside villages that were built along the coastal cliffs to keep watch for marauding pirates. The pirates were regular intruders from the 1100’s and forward for several centuries. As a major aggravation to the Genoese (the people of Genoa), they decided to build a long string of villages along the coast that would remain on watch for seafaring invaders and send a warning through the string northward to Genoa proper, and inland to other nearby townships and cities.

Today, five of these villages remain for you to visit easily. Each village has its own personality and scenic pleasures. Once you have found a hotel, you will find a variety of ways to move between villages so that you can visit all five of them: a local train stops at all five villages all day long; you can walk on foot-roads, paths, and trails; each village offers local boats (with drivers) that you can rent. Or you can do any combination of these as well.

Giving yourself 2-3 nights in Cinque Terre will enable you to take full advantage of the host of gems that await your visit in each town. Beginning from the most North/Western village Monterosso al Mare down through the most South/Eastern town of Riomaggiore, they are as follows:

Monterosso al Mare Monterosso has two sections: the old town and the new town, with an interesting tunnel connecting them together. The antiquity of the old town is clearly the attraction with its tiny alleyways, the popular ancient Convent (1600’s Capuchin style) and the square medieval bell tower that is topped by Merlons.

Lemon trees are abundant, and lemon-anything is what you’ll want to enjoy sampling, as the local shop and restaurant owners are certainly experts at lemon everything! Hot day? You won’t find a better frozen Limoncello drink or lemon gelato anywhere in the world. On the north end of her beach is a mega-sized sculpture of Neptune (the Monterosso Giant) carved from the cliff rocks. Upon his shoulders was a giant seashell that doubled as the party patio to the Villa Pastine. But during a WWII bombing of Monterosso, the statue and the villa endured a large amount of Damage. Vernazza Being a car-less community makes this town a delight on foot. It remains to be “one of the truest fishing villages on the Italian Riviera.” The natural port gave the town a water-side defense system, important for these seaside dwellers. During the 1200’s, the port was the place where Naval fleets and soldiers were launched to battle the marauding pirates. The wall around the city was added in the 1400’s as an additional form of defense. Two medieval Churches remain in Vernazza: Church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia (1318ce) whose octagonal bell tower was added in the 1700’s, and the little stone Chapel of Santa Marta waiting for you on the Main street of the town.

The Doria Castle was the Watch Tower designed to watch for marauders in the 1400’s.

 

Corniglia This is the only town of the five that does not actually touch the water. Built approximately 250 feet up on the clifftop, it is the center of our 5 pearls. Terraced crops and vineyards surround it on three sides, while the fourth side plummets down to the lapis-colored Ligurian sea. Thus, unlike the other towns, it lacks a sea port. The ancient medieval Church of San Pietro (1350ce) is a popular stop. The only ruins in town is the clifftop fortress built in 1556ce. The main Piazza, Largo Taragio, is the heartbeat of the village with an high ocean view and plenty of local wine. Manarola Manarola is the most photographed town in our string of 5 pearls. With its colorful Genoese-styled tower houses, it will remain in your memory for decades to come. Built in the 1100’s, it offered quite a vigorous resistance to the common Pirate raids. The word ‘Manarola’ derived from the Latin ‘Magna Rota’ or ‘Big Wheel’ refers to the large mill wheel found in the town. The Church of San Lorenzo (1338ce) and Bell Tower are a popular site for visitors. As is the Museum of Manarola, where you will discover the beginnings of this quaint seaside village. The local wine “Sciacchetrá” pronounced shock-eh-TRA) is served with or without food in nearly every food venue in town and must not be missed.

The walking trail between Manarola and Rio Maggiore (Via dell’Amore, “Love’s Trail”) is one of the more popular sites in the town.

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Riomaggiore The Southern-most of our 5 Lands is Riomaggiore. Built in the early 1200’s, it boasts of medieval charm, delicious local wines, colorful Genoese-styled tower houses, and plenty of shops and restaurants. The path that connects it to Manarola has a local charm that is worth seeing. Oh, and don’t forget that incredible view of the Ligurian  Sea.

Haunting Images that will put Pompeii on your Bucket List

One of the intrinsic benefits of luxury travel is getting to wander off the main tourist path and visit places that can be stimulating from an intellectual point of view. The ancient city of Pompeii on Italy’s west coast is just such a place. It experienced a catastrophic ending, and within 1 day, it was completely buried for the next 2,000 years. Today, it can be visited on foot thanks to over a century of archaeological excavations. After reading her story, I encourage you to add Pompeii to your bucket list. It exploded on a beautiful August morning in 79AD. Mount Vesuvius had rumbled and grumbled for months. Residents in the wealthy city of Pompeii at the base of the mountain’s sunset side became used to their belching neighbor that kept emitting rude noises and smoky plumes on a regular basis. And so, they continued to go about their daily business. 

The resort in the shadow of a time bomb 
Pompeii was a vacation resort city where wealthy Romans would come to be pampered. The population was made up of mostly well-educated business people, teachers, skilled craftsmen, and artisans who dressed in styles made from delicate fabrics and embellishments; lavish Roman baths, art galleries, theater performances, and of course the finest in exotic cuisine could all be enjoyed in Pompeii.

But when it blew, Mt. Vesuvius unleashed a fantasy-shattering explosion causing a 360-degree apocalypse for miles around its base. The smoke and ash were so abrupt that people were stopped in their tracks as they walked, bending in blinding fits of coughing and sputtering until they dropped where they stood. The Earth shook, and the sea brought wall after wall of home-shrouding waves. Ash, mud, thick clouds of dust and fiery stones pummeled the city until all that was left was a vast moonscape of dead scenery in the place of the city that was glorious only 25 hours earlier. Nearly 2,000 years later, archaeologists undertook the painstakingly difficult task of excavating through the hardened ash and pumice in Pompeii to uncover her ancient secrets. Haunted excavations During the process of digging, they came upon large oddly-shaped spaces or ‘bubbles’ in the hard pumice. During the 1800’s, an archaeologist named Giuseppe Fiorelli devised a clever way to understand these misshapen gaps. He filled the ‘bubbles’ with a plastery substance. After it dried, he removed the original outer pumice material only to unveil the most haunting site he had ever seen: the bubble was the shape of a human who had evidently died in agony.

Fiorelli continued to fill more of these ‘bubbles’ and discovered the last moments of many of the Pompeiians as they took their final breath 2,000 years ago.

Ancient Speed Bumps These wheel ruts are so well-defined that you could almost hear the echoes of the coaches as they rumbled through the streets. The carriages had to slow down considerably for their wheels to aim between those 3 protrusions without damage. Was this an early form of speed bump?

Villa of mysteries This villa has become famous because of the beautiful condition of its exquisite wall frescoes. This type of art is instrumental in educating us about the life of the locals. In this scene, it appears that a young girl is being initiated into some sort of religious cult, a point which is still argued by experts today.

The boy in the workshop When Fiorelli saw what was emerging from the ‘bubbles’ in the pumice, he was was shocked to find so many people who were captured in real life positions. This young man looks as though he was futilely attempting to shield his eyes and nose from the onslaught.

Apollo A statue of Apollo held a bow and arrow in antiquity. However, today he appears to be reaching out to people who are no longer there.

Roman baths Because of the nearby Volcano, thermal baths were common in Pompeii. Unfortunately, the mountain that brought them so much warmth and pleasure was also the instrument of their quick demise.

There are no exceptions These children were found mercilessly robbed of breath at such an early age. Children like these were found all over the city.

All told, approximately 2,000 people lost their lives that fateful summer day. Some citizens managed to escape by various means, but the memories of the lost souls have been preserved for us to remember for all time. “In the darkness you could hear the crying of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men. Some prayed for help. Others wished for death. But still more imagined that there were no Gods left, and then the universe was plunged into eternal darkness.”  ― Pliny the Younger, From The Letters of Pliny the Younger: with observations on each letter Note: Pliny the Younger was a Pompeiian who managed to escape with his life during the catastrophe of 79AD.