Cinque Terre (#300)

This time we were off to Cinque Terre to meet up with Ira's cousin Natalie and her boyfriend Jim. Besides spending time with family, we also had another mission: a little reconnaissance for my girlfriends back in the U.S., who are planning their own trip here this fall. 

We quickly learned that the frequent trains from La Spezia don't begin until noon. Earlier in the morning they only run about once an hour, so by the time ours arrived it was absolutely packed--like sardines. Or perhaps, given where we were, more like acciughe.

Sardines on a train

Thankfully, Riomaggiore was the first stop, and stepping off the train we were greeted by this view. 

View from the train station in Riomaggiore

Cliffside by the train station

As luck would have it, we reached the Airbnb at the same time as our host, Natalie and Jim. After climbing three steep flights of narrow stairs (thank goodness we packed light), our host showed us around and explained a few Cinque Terre quirks--including how to turn the hot water on and off.

Back in town we found a little hole in the wall, Osteria La Torpedine, that felt refreshingly authentic despite being in one of Italy's busiest tourist destinations.

Sardines Three Ways

Crab pasta

After we were completely happy and satiated, we worked our way down to the train station, helped cousin Natalie and Jim buy their train passes and then hopped on the first train all the way to the northernmost fishing village of the five that make up Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare. It also happens to be the largest and the flattest of the five and the town where we stayed on our first trip to Italy, the one that started the whole adventure back in January of 2024. The summer vibe was just a little bit different.

Monterosso al Mare

At the far end of the beach is a prominent statue called "Il Gigante" (The Giant), an impressive 14-meter-tall (46 feet) sculpture of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea. It was originally commissioned in 1910 by the Pastine family to hold a massive, shell-shaped terrace on his shoulders at the edge of their estate and served as a scenic overlook for the villa. However, World War II destroyed the villa and heavily damaged the statue as well as a sea storm in the 1960s which broke off his arms, his trident and the original shell terrace. He's still pretty impressive though. I was able to find a photo of what it looked like originally. Pretty cool.

Il Gigante today

Il Gigante, 1910

From here we turned around and walked all the way to the end of the beach at the other end. It was hot and sticky. We stopped for an icy cold water break, did a walk by Emy's Way Ristorantino which was the only restaurant open in January when we came the first time. This time the restaurant was packed, and it was nice to see that little place thriving. Then it was time to hop back on a train and head to the next town, Vernazza.

It was still very hot, but this town had a little protected harbor and a walkway with some shade, so we bought some cocktails-to-go and claimed a shady seat overlooking the cove and peopled watched until we felt right again. It was quite pleasant. 

Vernazza Harbor

With our cocktails finished and our bodies cooled off, we headed back to the station and hopped on the train towards the next town of Manarolo, another cliffside fishing town.

Manarolo

We wandered a bit through town and then decided we were tired and would head back to Riomaggiore.  We decided to save Corniglia for another visit. Being the only village perched high above the sea--and reached by hundreds of steps--we weren't feeling quite ambitious enough after a hot afternoon.

We thought, perhaps it was close enough to our 9:30p reservation time that they might let us in early. Dinner seatings here were different from our favorites in Massa where a reservation gave you the table for the whole evening. Here the reservations were scheduled more like in America. So, although they were happy to try to accommodate an early seating, by the time they were able to seat us, it was basically 9:30p anyway. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

View of the harbor from our dinner spot

For dinner Ira and I shared the acciughe antipasti with butter and bread, which thanks to our friends Sofia and Alberto, I can't seem to get enough of. Yum! Then we shared Trofie Pesto and the shrimp.

Acciughe Antipasti

Trofie Pesto

Shrimp entree

We ended the meal with some gelato, a nice cool dessert for a hot summer night.

Riomaggiore harbor 

Riomaggiore at night

We made our way back to our room and before going to bed we took some time to figure out a plan for the next day. Our waitress had warned us there would be a train strike the next day. Fortunately, a strike in Italy doesn't necessarily mean every train stops running--it usually just means fewer trains, especially outside commuter hours. We figured that even if things went sideways, the water taxi would be our backup plan.

The next morning, we packed up, said our goodbyes and rather than taking the tunnel back to the station, we followed our host's suggestions and took the scenic upper path. It turned out to be one of the prettiest walks of the trip. 

Walking to the train station

View of the train station from the walk

A train came by, not too long after we arrived and we were back in La Spezia and in our car driving back to Massa in no time. When we were almost home, we realized that we needed fruit and vegetables, so we stopped at La Cura, where Elena had recently recommended the produce. As luck would have it, they no longer sold vegetables--but their wine manager happily turned our shopping trip into an impromptu wine tasting. 

That's Italy for you.

One discovery I found fascinating was their experiment with underwater wine aging. Some of their premium reds spend months beneath the waters of the Gulf of Follonica, where constant temperatures, darkness, gentle currents and pressure are believed to produce softer tannins and more elegant wines. The bottles themselves emerge covered with marine growth, making each one completely unique.

Unfortunately those were the only wines we didn't get to taste.

So we came home with wine...but still no vegetables.

Sea submerged aged wines

Naturally, we solved the problem by going to Vanni's for pizza. There was a lot of buzz inside, but we finished our pizza without inquiring. But when we went to pay, Valentina excitedly explained that two actors from the television series Romanzo Criminale (Vinicio Marchioni and Francesco Montanari) were filming a travel documentary about the Maremma. She was completely starstruck, which was adorable. A drone was buzzing over Piazza Garibaldi filming the Duomo--and maybe our apartment building made the final cut. Time will tell.

Film crew in Piazza Garibaldi

Drone in the square above our apartment building

Well it was time to head back to our little house in the country. It's fun to travel but it's also fun to come back home. And the sunsets are pretty nice too.

Sunset at the tiny house

Just when we thought the day couldn't surprise us anymore, Ira spotted a bug inside the house that glowed after he gently squished it. Realizing it was probably a firefly, we stepped outside--and discovered dozens of them floating through the darkness.

Neither of us had ever seen fireflies in person before. 

The video doesn't really capture the magic, but trust me, it was one of those simple little moments that we'll remember for a very long time.

Fireflies

Until next time....

Ciao, ciao.