The harbour, PortovenerePortovenereThe Cinque Terre, mentioned on the first post of this thread. Last month I finally walked through the Five Lands, a national park in La Riviera di Levante (in Liguria, my favourite region of Italy and to date,anywhere on Earth). Looking on the maps though I decided a more interesting way to arrive there instead of by train would be on foot, hiking the 8 and a half miles from Portovenere to Riomaggiore, the southernmost of the Cinque Terre villages.
St. Pietro, the 13 century church built on the site of an ancient temple of Venus which the port is named afterI’d been to Portovenere a few years ago and had been stunned by the sea cliffs stretching north and now this is where I’d be heading.
The way aheadThe trail (through the Portovenere National Park) starts at the foot of the Castle dominating the village, consisting of a series of boulder formed steps which rapidly become steeper and more demanding even before the fortress is left behind.
The trail beginsI started about 10 in the morning and the temperature was already 34 degrees, but at least this part of the trail occasionally ran through some shade giving woods.
It was resting under one these trees on yet another break that I had a close encounter with a tiny red squirrel which slowly ambled down one trunk and across my path, almost close enough to pet before vanishing.
The way behindThis frankly shattering climb, near vertical in parts took about 40 or 50 minutes but led to spectacular views over the “Gulf of Poets”, named after Percy Shelley and Byron who also loved this bay, to the distant Carrara marble mountains just visible in the summer morning haze.
Unfortunately, arriving at the abandoned Fort Muzzerone the path is badly signposted and I took three different directions before hitting the right one (the trail counterintuitively heads off downhill and back inland towards the big port city of La Spezia).
Towards the Gulf of La SpeziaFrom now until the village of Campiglia the way was nowhere near as demanding.
It’s not for the faint hearted though; rising in places to 1,750 feet above the sea at times you have to scramble along cliff sides on a very narrow ledge with little to hold onto, walking on severely folded and jagged metamorphic rocks. Unlike the Cinque Terre you need proper walking shoes for this (if you are scared of heights, don’t even try it).
VertigoThe stunning heat meant I had to take frequent breaks under the increasingly rare patches of shade (and it was now round noon). The occasional cool breeze blew from the impossibly azure sea far below, sweet zephyrs indeed, and you finally understood what the classical poets were blethereing about. The vistas are unforgettable.
Campiglia is a small village pretty much halfway between Portovenere and Riomaggiore and provides a welcome break for food, rest, shade and taking on more water. On the road again I entered a pine forest which could have almost been in the Highlands if it hadn’t been for the frantic sound of the cicadas (and the stifling heat).
The path now winds up and down hill through a variety of landscapes, across terraced vineyards and olive groves, through maquis and woodland.
Schiara far belowSuddenly you encounter another rather severe climb heading to the tiny church of St Antonio. A series of stone steps running through vineyards relentlessly wind seemingly ever upwards until they enter a deep forest (the sounds of the cicadas fade away here), every turn on the trail reveals yet another steep slog up and up until you suddenly hit a tarmac road, the church and, as an unexpected bonus, a tiny café. Never has a humble Wall’s cornetto ice cream tasted so good!
On the climb up to St AntonioSo far I’d seen birds of prey, dragon flies, gigantic bees and more butterflies than I’d ever seen in my life in the wild before.
A last look backThe path now narrowed dramatically through meadows, cork woods, thick thorn filled maquis and at one point, an extensive and rather spooky stretch of forest charred by a huge fire.
For the first time all day I saw a sign saying “Riomaggiore”, only about 45 minutes walk out of town.
The fish scaled dome on the spire of the little church of Santuario della Madonna di Monte Nero suddenly rose above the trees and I had a first glimpse of the Punta Mesco, the dominant feature of the next day’s hike, the Cinque Terre itself and the end of the day’s journey.
The Punta Mesco and la Cinque TerreI rested at the church drinking in these sea views a long time before descending into Riomaggiore.
RiomaggioreThe pilgim’s wayThe path down is an easy going pilgrim’s stairway which suddenly crosses a busy main highway and then twists through a narrow river valley flanked by market gardens and suddenly you’ve arrived at Riomaggiore and the Five Lands.
RiomaggioreThe harbour, Riomaggiore