Walking the ‘Walk of Love’ on the Italian Riviera

The tiny beach and harbour and the tower houses of Riomaggiore have inspired poets and painters (Photograph: Patrick Comerford , 2012)

Patrick Comerford

I moved out of Tuscany on Saturday [1 September 2012] in to the Liguria region and caught the train from La Spezia towards Genoa to visit the Cinque Terre, a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera, with five pretty picturesque villages that are part of the Cinque Terre National Park.

The area is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was included in the 2000 and 2002 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund.

The area known as Cinque Terre or “Five Hills” is made up of the five villages of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. There are few roads into the Cinque Terre, and the one road that is accessible to cars is into Vernazza. So we caught the train first to the most northerly and the largest of these villages, Monterosso al Mare.

Walking from the train station along the path above the beach at Monterosso (Photograph: Patrick Comerford , 2012)

Walking from the train station along the path above the beach at Monterosso in the sunshine was a far more satisfying and reinvigorating experience than the disappointing visit to Viareggio a few days earlier.

Monterosso has an old town and a new town, linked by a single tunnel serving pedestrians and the few cars in the town, which was briefly excluded from the Cinque Terre trail in 1948-1949 because Italian officials at the time thought it was too large to be part of the historic trail.

We began our visit at the parish church of Saint John the Baptist (1282-1307), which suffered badly during heavy flooding and mudslides last October.

The façade of the church has four small marble columns and a main portal surmounted by a fresco portraying the Baptism of Christ. Across the narrow street, a mortuary chapel is encrusted with images of death, with skulls and skeletons.

Vernazza has made a startling recovery from the torrential rains, floods and mudslides that hit the village last October (Photograph: Patrick Comerford , 2012)

We spent some more time in the morning sunshine in Monterosso, strolling through the narrow cobbled streets, before catching the train to the next village, Vernazza, which suffered badly from the torrential rains, floods and mudslides on 25 October 2011, when at least nine people were killed.

As a fortified town, Vernazza dates back to 1080, and became a maritime base for the Obertenghi, an Italian noble family. Over the next two centuries, Vernazza was vital in Genoa’s conquest of Liguria, providing a port, fleet and soldiers. In 1209, 90 powerful families in Vernazza pledged their allegiance to the republic of Genoa.

The town walls were built after Vernazza was attacked regularly by pirates in the 15th century, and Doria Castle was built at the same time as a lookout tower to protect the village from pirates.

We climbed the narrow, steep steps leading up to the castle, only to find it was closed. Back down in Vernazza, we walked down to the harbour to watch the waves crashing in against the pier, and then returned to Piazza Marconi, the square looking out on the harbour, for lunch at Ristorante Gianna Franzi.

The harbour and the Church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia in Vernazza (Photograph: Patrick Comerford , 2012)

After lunch, we visited the Church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia, on the corner of the harbour. The church dates from at least 1318, but may be much older, with evidence dating parts of the building to the 12th century. The church was expanded and renovated in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The church has an unusual east-facing entrance approached by steps, a nave and two aisles, and an octagonal bell tower rising from the apse.

After a long period of stagnation, Vernazza’s economy got a boost when the village and the surrounding area returned to wine production. The arrival of the Genoa-La Spezia rail line brought an end to the long isolation of the village, and the population grew by 60%.

Then, on 25 October 2011, Vernazza was struck by torrential rains, massive flooding and mudslides that left the town buried in four metres or more of mud and debris, causing over €100 million worth of damage. The town was evacuated but has recovered enough to be lively and bustling on this warm summer afternoon.

Walking the Via Dell’Amore between Manarola and Riomaggiore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford , 2012)

From Vernazza, we caught the train to Manarola, where we joined the walking trail – the Sentiero Azzuro (“Light Blue Trail”) – that connects the five villages. From Manarola to Riomaggiore, the trail is called the Via Dell’Amore, or the “Walk of Love.”

Over the centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Along the route, we could see how the mountainsides of the Cinque Terre are heavily terraced and are used to grow grapes and olives.

At the end of our walk, we had a climb down steep steps to reach Riomaggiore, the most southerly of the five Cinque Terre villages.

Riomaggiore dates from the early 13th century, and we sat eating proper Italian ice cream overlooking the small beach and wharf that are framed by tower houses – a scene that inspired paintings by Telemaco Signorini (1835-1901), one of the artists of the Macchiaioli group.

Part of the charm of this area is the lack of visible corporate or commercial development. We could have lingered longer. But we had a train to catch to La Spezia.