Cinque Terre ....Four week holiday in Italy ….. from the 17th March to the 18th of April 2005
Week 3 = Florence: We stayed in a little town called Empoli about half an hour by train from Florence then went out from there every day to a different location: Florence for 1 + 1/2 days, Pisa, Sienna, San Gimignano, Lucca, Vinci and Cinque Terre.
Cinquere Terre details …. A landscape worth saving …. A mans park … .. the first image that comes to mind when thinks of Cinque Terre is that of rugged mountain terrain, with its deteriorating dry stone walls, built to hold up vineyards.
An impressive and unique landscape which has been included on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The landscape, which we admire, is the product of collective creativity that was able to overcome the difficulties posed. It is the local Cinque Terre people, that has spanned over a thousand years. Together these people have worked towards one vision - to live, to produce and to be part of a community. Over this time, a human chain of men and woman transformed this territory with age-old techniques and wisdom and with the naivete’ of poverty, a hard challenge for survival.
There are five ancient fishing villages perched on the edge of the cliffs: 1. Riomaggiore, 2. Manarola, 3. Corniglia 4. Vernazza, 5. Monterosso ….. all joined by a railway line and by old walking and donkey trails. We walked up from the train station at the first village of Riomaggiore and saw the ocean and the steep cliffs …… we walked on the easy walk to Manarola …… a rockslide had occurred between Manarola and the third village of Corniglia. We then caught the train up to the last (fifth) village of Monterosso then walked four hours to Vernazza ….. the fourth village on the sea.
An impressive and unique landscape which has been included on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The landscape, which we admire, is the product of collective creativity that was able to overcome the difficulties posed. It is the local Cinque Terre people, that has spanned over a thousand years. Together these people have worked towards one vision - to live, to produce and to be part of a community. Over this time, a human chain of men and woman transformed this territory with age-old techniques and wisdom and with the naivete’ of poverty, a hard challenge for survival.
There are five ancient fishing villages perched on the edge of the cliffs: 1. Riomaggiore, 2. Manarola, 3. Corniglia 4. Vernazza, 5. Monterosso ….. all joined by a railway line and by old walking and donkey trails. We walked up from the train station at the first village of Riomaggiore and saw the ocean and the steep cliffs …… we walked on the easy walk to Manarola …… a rockslide had occurred between Manarola and the third village of Corniglia. We then caught the train up to the last (fifth) village of Monterosso then walked four hours to Vernazza ….. the fourth village on the sea.
Note the man made landscape of ancient terraces built from dry stone. The narrow terraces are filled with soil to grow olives and grapes. A farmhouse built from stone with a terracotta tile roof is perched on an excavated terrace ….. only connected by a walking track. Some of the walking tracks we were walking were old donkey tracks. Narrow handmade stone steps ascended or descended steep areas. Olive tree branches were used to provide a railing in some steep areas.
Village of Vernazza ….. the fourth village on the sea …. ancient stone built buildings painted in traditional colours of ochre, terracotta and chocolate brown. The track descends to the village down narrow stone steps down past garden plots on terraces. The village had an original stone tower as look out for invading pirates from previous centuries. The village has a man made stone harbour wall to protect the fishing boats from stormy weather.
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