The Cinque Terre

Liguria country enclosed, vertiginous terraces overlooking the sea, olive groves, rocky hostile, offers here his image as rough and weary, fascinating.
His five countries, almost inaccessible, from the tip of the promontory of Mesco and Montenero: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Manarola, Riomaggiore, Corniglia, were born after the 'eleventh century, descendants of more ancient origin.
Top Corniglia, the other at the bottom of narrow valleys of ancient streams, whose mouths become squares and landing of fishing boats.
The only reachable by car are Riomaggiore and Monterosso al Mare, the others with one-day cruises departing from ports of Tigullio.

MONTEROSSO AL MARE
The most northerly of the Cinque Terre, consisting of two nuclei from the sandy shoreline.
To visit
The parish S. Giovanni Battista del sec. XIII-XIV with a bell tower which was an ancient watchtower of the Genoese fortifications.
The ancient church of S. Francis, rebuilt in 1619 adjacent to the Capuchin monastery is reached along a pedestrian street that starts from the marina, is housed within a crucifixion attributed to Van Dyck.

VERNAZZA
The tiny square on the marina, the church that dominates the sea from a cliff is perhaps the most picturesque of the Cinque Terre.
To visit
The parish S. Margaret of Antioch in 1318, built on the rock above the sea, curiously built on two floors.

CORNIGLIA
High on the sea, is reached by a path that goes from Vernazza (3.5 km) or by rail where a long staircase up from the station to the country.
To visit
The parish of St. Peter (1351) remodeled in the Baroque age, retains Gothic rose window and portal.

MANAROLA
You can walk there from Riomaggiore (3.5 km) in about 30 min. for the "Way of Love" that follows the coast overlooking the sea.
To visit
The fourteenth-century parish church with a rose window and pointed portal.

RIOMAGGIORE
Tall houses, colorful, narrow winding streets, small squares enclosed by the mountain and the sea in the narrow valley of the river (now roofed).
To visit
The fourteenth-century parish church with a wooden crucifix by Anton Maria Maragliano and a fifteenth-century triptych.
Near the church, a plaque marks the house where he lived and painted Telemaco Signorini.
The remains of the castle, high up in a panoramic position.