Itineraries  Eastern Liguria and the Cinque Terre

Liguria sea north Italy

Description of the itinerary 

The itinerary leaves from Castelnuovo Magra in the eastern part of Liguria and goes towards the Luni area (the “Lunigiana”) where it turns back on itself and goes west to the Cinque Terre.
The vineyards of the Cinque Terre extend over about 400 hectares of sheer-drop terraces facing the sea and have been carved out of the rock on pebbly slopes by hard manual work in the effort to plant vines and olive trees. Winemaking traditions have made this coastal area one of the most interesting and fascinating sights of the region.

Wines: Cinqueterre,Cinqueterre Sciacchetrà
Specialities:  Farinata, Acciughe sotto sale, Mes-ciüa, Spungata

Itinerary in detail:
Riomaggiore | Monterosso al Mare | Manarola | Corniglia | Vernazza | Sarzana | La Spezia | Castelnuovo Magra 

Castelnuovo Magra and Liguria’s Enoteca Regionale

The journey to the Cinque Terre begins at Castelnuovo Magra, where the Ligurian Enoteca Regionale (Regional Wine Centre) can be found in the rooms below the town hall. Here on display are all the wines of Liguria, with particular emphasis on Cinque Terre and Colli dei Luni DOC wines. The trip is worthwhile because it offers a complete panorama over the region’s wine production. It’s amazing to think how much wine comes from such a small vineyard area (just a few thousand square metres). Castelnuovo Magra is an ancient town with some beautiful parts to it. Just at the beginning of the town there’s the beautiful Rococo façade of the Oratory of the Whitefriars (Oratorio dei Bianchi). Climb up a few metres and you reach the little piazza of the parish church, Santa Maria Maddalena. The church itself dates back to late Renaissance times, while the façade was constructed in the XIX century. On the main doorway, there’s a fine seventeenth-century bas-relief depicting the penitent Magdalene and donor. Inside, the six Carrara marble columns which divide the nave and aisles come from Santa Maria Assunta in Luni. There are numerous works of art: carvings in wood, bas-reliefs, above all an altarpiece Calvary by Pieter Breughel the Younger, copied from a 1559 original by Pieter Breughel the Elder, and a Crucifixion attributed to the celebrated Flemish painter, Anthony Van Dyck 

Luni’s noble past

From Castelnuovo Magra the road runs for a short stretch along the plain towards the coast up to the ruins of Luni, a Roman town that used to be on the sea shore and now lies two kilometres inland. Archaeological excavations have shown that the town was once very lively and prosperous. Luni’s decline began when its harbour became unusable as the river Magra repeatedly overflowed and washed soil and detritus down to silt up the port. Other setbacks, such as the Norman and Lombard invasions, and the loss of the bishopric to Sarzana in 1204, signalled the town’s final demise. Today the ruins contain a museum with some of the finds discovered in the excavations. Other remains can be found in the museums in La Spezia, Carrara (in Tuscany), and Genova Pegli 

Sarzana and its monuments

From Luni turn north and, once past Castelnuovo Magra again, the road comes to Sarzana. The town’s origins lie back in the X century when refugees from Luni founded a town on the hill where Sarzana stands today. It’s worth seeing the ancient palazzi in Piazza Matteotti and Via Mazzini in the historic town centre. Via Mazzini is the main street and boasts many shops, as well as the remains of a XIV-century house that belonged to the Buonaparte family. The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is worth a visit; here the most important local artists have left their mark from the XIV to the XVII century. Sarzana holds a wine festival in August organised in collaboration with the Enoteca Regionale at Castelnuovo Magra. The centro storico is full of antique dealers, from Italy and abroad, in August, at Easter and during the Christmas holidays.

La Spezia: a naval arsenal

From Sarzana go west to La Spezia. The town looks out over the eponymous gulf, a place of great natural beauty and very popular with tourists. La Spezia’s origins date back to the XIII century when Count Nicolò Fieschi made the little hamlet of “Spetia” into a defensive fortification in his struggle against Genova. In the centuries that followed the town belonged to the Republic of Genova. Its period of real growth began in the second half of the nineteenth century when it became the military base of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Arsenal was constructed. Visit the castle of San Giorgio and the XIV-century Duomo, dedicated to the Assumption and rebuilt after the last war in Romanesque style. The Duomo contains important pictures and sculptures from the XIV century. The Arsenal (Arsenale Militare) was rebuilt after the Second World War and is Italy’s most important. Inside, the Naval Museum displays weapons and models that take the history of seafaring from its origins to the present day. Finally, visit the Archaeological Museum (Civico Museo Archeologico U. Formentini) to see the statues and stele from the ancient city of Luni, dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages 

Riomaggiore and Manarola: two real gems

Go on through La Spezia and the road starts the climb up to Riomaggiore, the southern entry point for the Cinque Terre. Here, at about 300 metres above sea level, the panoramic views from the road reveal the coast in all its beauty. The cliffs seem to fall straight into the sea and crammed into crevices in the few ravines that cut through them are five fishing villages, five and therefore called the “Cinque Terre”. Their names are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. Riomaggiore is the wine-producing centre of the region. The setting is truly spectacular; houses sit one on top of another pressed between the rocky shore and an amphitheatre of vineyards, orchards and olive groves. The village itself is tiny and takes only a few minutes to visit. But don’t miss the walk along the “Via dell’Amore” (“Love’s way”) a narrow path cut out of the rock with sheer drops into the sea. After about a kilometre and a half the path comes to Manarola, the next village of the Cinque Terre, where there are several ancient wineries. Everything in Manarola is minuscule and really doll-like; even the wine producers are to be found in the ground floors of houses squeezed into the space between the narrow alleys and streets 

Up and down the steps at Corniglia

The next village after Manarola is Corniglia, a town of peasant farmers and fishermen, full of interminable stairways and steps, built about 100 metres above sea level. This is the only village in the Cinque Terre not to have direct access to the sea; instead you have to go quite a distance down 360 steps to get to the water. In ancient times Corniglia was built as a defensive fortification with its own castle and a section of the village with a church dedicated to Santa Maria Maddalena. Over time, the sea has washed all this away. What remains are the ruined town walls and, in the current town graveyard, the ruins of the castle. There are two interesting churches to see: San Pietro (XIV century) and the sanctuary of San Bernardino perched on the hill above Corniglia 

Vernazza, town of farmers and fishermen

After Corniglia comes Vernazza, the only town in the Cinque Terre to have its own harbour. In Roman times this is where shipments of a white wine called Vernaccia would leave from, a practice that gave the town its name. Mediaeval in origin, the town is full of narrow alleys that lead up to the vine-covered terraces behind it. Round the little piazza facing the harbour there is a group of buildings that includes the XIV-century Gothic church of Santa Margherita di Antiocha and some ancient palazzi built in the local stone. Of the fortifications that were originally built to ward off Saracen raids there remains a watchtower, built on a rocky spur with a panoramic view of the locality. Finally, 310 metres above sea level and accessible by a narrow mule track through the vineyards and olive groves, there lies the Sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Reggio 

Monterosso al Mare and the Giant of the Cinque Terre

From Vernazza go to the last and the most populous of the five Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare. The hill called Colle San Cristoforo, pierced by the old railway tunnel, divides the town in two; on one side there’s the old town proper and on the other side the beach at Fegina. Fegina is dominated by the famous concrete statue of the Giant, built beside the terrace of a local villa. This statue was created at the beginning of the XX century by Levacher and Minerbi, an architect and a sculptor, and represents Neptune, the god of the sea. Now it has become the symbol of Monterosso. Visit the parish church of San Giovanni Battista in the old town (XIV century), and, on Colle San Cristoforo, the convent and Capuchin church of San Francesco (XVII century). Inside, there are works attributed to the Flemish painter, Van Dyck, and to Italian Old Masters. High up at 400 metres above sea level is the sanctuary dedicated to the Madonna di Soviore. The church as you see it dates back to late Mediaeval times, but excavations currently going on have revealed sections of a much older church, perhaps going back as far as the IX century