Silvia Moggia

Vernazza is the fourth town starting from the east and the village of Corniglia depends on its municipal administration. The first village of the Cinque Terre, the castrum Vernatio is mentioned already in an act of the Obertenghi in 1080, and the etymology of the name derives from the adjectives verna or local, while from Vernazza derives the Vernaccia wine, produced in Corniglia but taking the name from its port of embarkation.

History

The settlement developed with the move downstream of the inhabitants of Reggio around 1016, after the last Pisan-Genoese expedition in support of Sardinia to repel the Saracens. Vernazza was the maritime base of the Obertenghi, lords of the village until the end of the XII century, when the Republic of Genoa made it a commercial maritime base in 1209, decreeing it a fief of the Da Passano first and the Fieschi subsequently.

Genoa built both a fortified port for the landing of its galleys and a shipyard for their repair. Only a few portions of the walls remain, clearly visible when you hike from Corniglia, along the SVA path, while the lookout towers and Belforte have been recently restored.

Under Napoleonic rule from the end of 1797, Vernazza was annexed to the Department of the Gulf of Venus, becoming its capital after La Spezia and before being inserted in the Department of the Apennines with the First Empire of France. From 1815 it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, until the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

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What to see in Vernazza

The town winds around Via Roma, the result of the covering of the stream, from which branches of carrugi (i.e. narrow alleys) and very vertical stairways branch off.

Reached the main square, Piazza Marconi, spend some time visiting the Parish Church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia, whose foundations were laid directly on the rocks in 1318, but whose variations and extensions continued until the whole of the seventeenth century.

In the Ligurian Gothic style, the church dedicated to the local patron saint presents the signs of the Antelami’s workers and its mullioned windows give a very suggestive view of the pier and the Genoese bastion Belforte. Very peculiar the bell tower with an octagonal base and a balcony.

On the opposite side stands the Doria Castle, the defensive fortress built by the Obertenghi in 1056 and then developed and enlarged by Genoa. We advise you to walk up to the castle if it were only to discover the heart of the alleys of the village and enjoy the 360 ° panorama that you get by climbing the top of the tower.

From the tower, you will also notice the Torrione on the opposite side of the gulf and the church of the Convent of San Francesco, today the seat of the municipal administration, but whose cloister is often open and can be visited.

Monterosso al Mare, Eugenio Montale’s favorite village, is the fifth of the Cinque Terre starting from the east, the least vertical and the only one also famous for its beach and historic bathing establishments.

The village is made up of a medieval village, Monterosso, and an expansion of the modern era to which it is connected by a very short gallery or by a more panoramic staircase, Fegina, home to the current railway station.

History

According to certain historical sources on the heights of Monterosso, a pre-Roman settlement, Albareto, would have arisen, while the origins of the current village date back to the ninth century, as for Vernazza. The village, Monte Russo, is mentioned in a 1056 Obertenghi accounting document, just before passing under the dominion of the Republic of Genoa, as a fief of the Fieschi and then of the Lords of Lagneto starting from the XII century.

Under Genoa the village became Podesteria of the Capitanate of Levanto, knowing a great commercial and economic development, like the other villages of the coast, with which it also shares its modern history.

What to see in Monterosso

In addition to wandering among the alleys and the colorful shops, in Monterosso, you can not miss the Church of San Giovanni Battista, in the heart of the old village, in Genoese Gothic style and dating from the first half of the thirteenth century, with the typical facade in bichrome vestment and the imposing bell tower located between the apse and the entrance.

A few steps from there stands the Oratorio della Confraternita dei Neri ‘Mortis et Orationis‘ of the 16th century, in Baroque style and a little further away the Oratorio della Confraternita dei Bianchi or Santa Croce.

Reaching the hill of San Cristoforo you will find the Convent of the Capuchin Friars, one of the “Places of the Heart” of the FAI, and the Church of San Francesco, from the beginning of the 17th century, with a Crucifixion attributed to Van Dick.

Walking back down to the sea you can see the statue of San Francesco and Torre Aurora, today a trendy restaurant-bar in an extremely panoramic and romantic position. The tower dates from the sixteenth century and is a testament to the important defensive system of the village.

Leaving Monterosso for Fegina, at the western end of the promenade, stands the famous statue of the Giant, a 14-meter-high restored Neptune.

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The Eugenio Montale Literary Park

The Eugenio Montale Literary Park, strongly desired by the Cinque Terre National Park, the Dante Alighieri Society, and the local administration, was born on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the literature Nobel Prize to the poet, to revive the emotions he experienced in Monterosso and transmitted through his verses. The symbol of this literary park is the yellowish pagoda or house of the two palm trees, the poet’s summer residence on the Fegina promenade.

Meriggiare pallido e assorto Presso un rovente muro d’orto, ascoltare tra i pruni e gli sterpi schiocchi di merli, frusci di serpi…

The Park and the municipality organize guided walks along a naturalistic-literary path loved by Montale, which allows you to discover the beauty of Monterosso and the landscape that surrounds it, including Ossi di seppia, Mediterraneo, La Punta del Mesco, I limoni and Meriggi d’ombre.

The Cinque Terre are five villages on the eastern Ligurian Riviera, nestled between the cliff and the sea, in a landscape shaped by its inhabitants over the centuries, which still survives today thanks to a perfect yet precarious balance between man and nature. Small treasure chests where history, nature, and art come together in dizziness of colors and shades, attracting and enchanting tourists from all over the world.

Five villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso; each with its own history, its own traditions, and also with a distinct dialectal speech, but united by some characteristics.

1. Sea

The inhabitants of the Cinque Terre have always worked the land and from it have drawn sustenance and economic development since the first settlements, but the sea is an essential element of the landscape. It touches the villages, reflects its colors, influences its moods based on its motion, and has always guaranteed economic and cultural exchanges.

2. Dry stone walls

Over 6,000 kilometers of dry stone walls that support and shape our landscape. Essential walls allowing winemaking and other traditional agriculture activities and making the Cinque Terre what they are. However, they are also particularly fragile, require constant maintenance and special manpower and when abandoned are at risk of landslide and above all, we risk losing our identity. For this reason, we invite you to visit the Stone Walls for Life website, a vital project in this region.

3. Terracing

The technique, sweat, effort, and inheritance are the spectacular terraces that draw the postcard landscapes of Cinque Terre. A work that began in the XVII century and risked getting lost with progress, but whose importance and essentiality is luckily quite clear now. Terracing doesn’t exist without dry stone walls and we don’t exist without them.

4. Vineyard

Bosco, Albarola, Vermentino, and a lot of passion and determination to maintain tradition and landscape. The vineyard, together with olive and lemon trees, is the mother of local agriculture and has guaranteed the development and sustenance of Cinque Terre over the centuries. Today called heroic agriculture, viticulture is still something authentic and closely linked to manual labor.

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5. Sciacchetrà

Whoever says Cinque Terre wine also and above all thinks of Sciacchetrà, precious nectar, both for its economic and its emotional value. Sciacchetrà takes its name from the phrase describing its procedure in our local dialect, or sciacca e trá (i.e. crush and pull out). At the end of the arduous vertical harvest, the bunches destined for this amber wine are left to ripen in the sun, the grapes are carefully selected and then left to dry naturally until late November on racks placed in the shade. To be able to taste it you have to wait at least twelve months and the triple for a “Reserve”.

6. Caruggi (narrow alleys)

The first agglomerations of Cinque Terre are not of Genoese foundation, but the five villages as you see them today do. As in all the possessions of the Republic, the town planning is characterized by mazes of paths, designed specifically to make the invaders getting lost and disperse. Today they make tourists lose their sense of direction, but this way you can discover slowness and unique views. Taking the time to get lost when visiting a place for the first time is one of the beauties of the trip and here it is guaranteed!

7. Fortifications

Starting in the 13th century, under the impulse of the Republic of Genoa, city walls, watchtowers and bastions were erected, to defend against the main enemy Pisa and frequent pirate raids. Each village has its own, more often now it is a vestige, but some towers and fortresses can still be visited and are always in dominant and decidedly panoramic points. Do not be put off by the steep staircases, because getting to your destination is really worth it!

8. Shrines

Each village is dominated by its own Marian shrine. The sanctuaries of the Cinque Terre are places that tell the history and traditions of this region and that offer the opportunity to make beautiful walks to reach historical monuments that combine beauty, spirituality, stillness, and unmissable panoramas.

9. Paths

A network of mule tracks and vertical paths that has guaranteed movements and exchanges for centuries and which today guarantees access to farms and orchards, offering you the opportunity to go hiking day after day, discovering always new views and hamlets, passing from one village to the other and from one sanctuary to another and from one landscape to another and all overlooking the sea.

10. Poets

Cinque Terre border the wonderful Gulf of Poets, which we recommend you visit, but verses and lyrics have also told our five villages and their lives over the centuries: from Dante Alighieri to Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio to Eugenio Montale and many others who fell in love with this harsh land.

Riomaggiore is the first village of the Cinque Terre starting from the east and is the seat of the local administration.

It rises along the valley of the Rio Maggiore torrent, the ancient Rivus Major from which it takes its name, but like the other villages of the Riviera its origins lie upstream, among the small settlements of the middle coast: Casen, Cacinagora, Saricò and Lemen. They decided to merge at the mouth of the “rio” giving life to the seaside village of Riomaggiore in 1251.

The history of Riomaggiore

The origins of the village are not certain, as often happens for small agglomerations built before the year 1000, but an oral legend says that the first inhabitants, who settled near the current shrine of the Madonna di Montenero, were Greek refugees fleeing by Leo III Isauricus.

Thanks to the taking of power of the Republic of Genoa and its expansion along the coast, the inhabitants were able to move downstream with greater security, constituting the first nucleus on the sea, the current Marina di Riomaggiore. In 1251, year of the first documents mentioning the village, Riomaggiore swore allegiance to the Republic as a fief of the Lords of Ripalta, to then pass under the dominion of the Fieschi and be definitively sold to Genoa in 1276.

Under the dominion of the Republic, Cinque Terre could start a real economic and commercial development process, which gave rise to the terraces that you can still admire today and which allowed the development of agriculture now known as heroic.

The modern history of Riomaggiore coincides with that of the other four villages: under French rule from the end of 1797 the village was annexed to the Department of the Gulf of Venus, initially with capital La Spezia, then Vernazza, to later be included in the Department of the Apennines with the First Empire of France. From 1815 it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, until the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

A curiosity about Cinque Terre: until 1871 Corniglia was also a hamlet of Riomaggiore, together with Manarola.

The village

According to the architectural scheme of the possessions of Genoa, the inhabited center was built descending along the stream course, on parallel orders of tower houses that had both military and housing functions, with double access on different levels, one official toward the sea and one upstream, to facilitate escape in case of a sudden attack from the sea.

With the same purpose, a large maze of narrow alleys was traced, the so-called carruggi, following Genoa’s urban scheme.

Instead, it is said that the colors of the houses have become a tradition to allow sailors to identify their homes from a distance when getting back to the harbor. We certainly know that the pastel tones are those of the Provencal tradition, extended to the entire Riviera of the ancient Department of the Apennines and that the plaster was used to mask the medieval wrecks and the wealthier families began to ask for painted new moldings and architectural ornaments, giving life to the typical modern Ligurian architecture.

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What to see in Riomaggiore

The parish church of San Giovanni Battista, with a basilica plan and three naves separated by pointed arches, was built by Antelami‘s workers in the upper part of the village and was founded on 8 November 1340 with license from the Bishop of Luni. Like all the churches in our area, it underwent various modernizations and reconstructions, such as those of 1870 which affected the neo-Gothic facade without altering the fourteenth-century rose window.

Inside you can admire the marble reliefs of 1530, the XVII century pulpit, the triptych with the Madonna and Child and Saints Rocco, and Sebastiano previously located on the altar of the homonymous oratory, the XVII century wooden crucifix by the Genoese Anton Maria Maragliano and the Agati organ of 1851.

The oratory of Saints Rocco and Sebastiano, consisting of a single nave covered by a barrel vault and preceded by a small portico, was built in 1480 to thank for the end of the plague that hit Riomaggiore. The architrave decoration pays homage to both saints.

The construction of the Castle of Riomaggiore began in 1260 at the behest of the lords of Ripalta and was completed in the late XV century, under the Republic of Genoa.

It is a small quadrangular fortress, built in a dominant position – and decidedly a panoramic one! – equipped with walls made up of two circular towers. Over time it was also a local cemetery and today it is the conference room and cultural center of the municipality.