Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre (pronounced [ˈtʃiŋkwe ˈtɛrre] in Italian, or Çinque Tære in Ligurian, meaning "Five Lands") is a coastal region in northwest Italy, located in the western part of La Spezia Province, Liguria. It consists of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The entire area—including the coastline, villages, and surrounding hillsides—falls within the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vernazza is also recognized as one of "I Borghi più belli d'Italia" (Italy's most beautiful villages). This region is a major tourist destination, famous for its steep, terraced landscapes carved into cliffs overlooking the Ligurian Sea. The villages are linked by paths, trains, and boats, as cars can only reach them via narrow, precarious mountain roads.

Historical records mention the Cinque Terre as early as the 11th century. Monterosso and Vernazza were the first settlements, with the other villages developing later under the Republic of Genoa. In the 16th century, residents reinforced existing forts and built new defensive towers to guard against Turkish attacks. The area experienced economic decline from the 17th to the 19th centuries, which reversed only after an arsenal was built in La Spezia and a railway connection to Genoa was established. World War II brought extensive damage from bombing and fighting. The railway later spurred migration away from the area and a decline in traditional industries, until tourism began to revive the economy in the 1970s. Grapes and olives have historically been the main crops, and while Monterosso once had fishermen, the brightly painted fishermen's cottages were created in the late 1970s specifically as a tourist attraction. UNESCO designated the Cinque Terre a World Heritage Site in 1997 due to its exceptional cultural and ecological value. On October 25, 2011, torrential rain caused floods and mudslides that killed nine people and severely damaged villages, especially Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. This disaster was worsened by the decline of traditional terrace cultivation, which had become less profitable and less maintained over the previous sixty years, though some scientific literature notes that vegetation growing on abandoned terraces partially mitigated the impact.