During my college study abroad trip to Italy, our group organized a day trip to hike between the villages of Cinque Terre. And can you believe it, it’s a UNESCO Site – it like the culture gods are reading my mind!
Cool History
Cinque Terre literally means “five lands” in Italian and it pretty much describes the area. Along the steep Ligurian coast, these five little towns are desperately hugging the coastline. So desperate in fact, that there was a dangerous landslide a few years ago that put the site and many people in danger.
In fancy UNESCO speak this means that Cinque Terre is worthy of being a UNESCO Site “because [it] represent[s] the harmonious interaction between people and nature to produce a landscape of exceptional scenic quality that illustrates a traditional way of life that has existed for a thousand years and continues to play an important socio-economic role in the life of the community.”
Our Agenda
We arrived via train in the southernmost town, Riomaggiore, to walk around and look at some architecture. The fast train from Florence to Riomaggiore is about 3 hours; we did this as a Florence day trip so it was a full, full day!
We then began our climb up and up. It was not a difficult climb (and trust me, I am NOT super hiker), but you certainly cannot be afraid of heights or narrow passages.
JMF
