Back in Italy, thank God, and ready to discover the Cinque Terre

We have established on this blog that I am never going to work for the French tourism board, despite last year's fabulous outing in Burgundy. My heart lies further South. And yesterday, with every mile I left the border behind me and drove down the Italian Riviera, my heart soared. The colours were brighter, the mountains higher, the people more cheerful, the words on the radio more comprehensible. (Just.)

Although I've never been to this part of Italy, I couldn't help thinking: It is good to be home.

My colleague Tania and I have three days, roughly, to relax, explore and unwind after the grueling marketing event we've just completed. Last year we swore we should take advantage of our presence in the region and stay the weekend. This year, we carried through. We've come down to Levanto, a charming small town on a lovely, c-shaped bay. A port in the Middle Ages, its feel these days is more of a late 19th century beach resort of the type Puccini or Rossini might have retired to when trying to lift composer's block. It's certainly punctuated by some extraordinary architecture, notably the mock castle that sits next to our more traditional B&B. While the Middle Ages have mostly faded, there's a picturesque real castle above the beach, an exquisite little church in striped green and white marble with a remarkable Gothic rose window, and some recently revealed caricatures of 13th century residents that experts believe served as an advertisement for the tavern that once operated behind those walls.

Levanto turns out to be a perfect base for exploring the area. It's about 20 minutes off the autostrada, an hour from both Portofino and Portovenere (both top destinations) and linked by local roads to the five famous villages of the Cinque Terre. But unlike the Cinque Terre names, Levanto is big enough to have a variety of restaurants, a bit of nightlife, some interesting shops, a mix of B&Bs and parking. There's also a beautiful sand beach of quite a remarkable blackish-green colour, which would be a big draw in the summer. It took us about 4 hours to get down here from our starting point at Nice Airport and almost every minute of the drive was filled with exquisite views. (If you were coming here directly, it would make more sense to come from Genoa, Pisa or Milan.)

We devoted our first full day to exploring the Cinque Terre, making it to two of the famous five. Vernazza is known for being the most beautiful and certainly ticks all the boxes. Tall houses in festive colours, a fleet of small fishing boats pulled up in the town square, ancient church tucked between harbour and cliff, defensive tower above, remarkable views to each side. Frankly, it's not a village ... it's a stage set. We managed to get here for some remarkable weather, thus a good bit of our sightseeing was actually spent stretched out on slabs of black slate jutting into the Med, contemplating the pounding of the surf and the beauty of life.

One surprise is just how tiny this is, and in fact, all, of the Cinque Terre are. The tourist bit of town (and, really, most of the town itself) is just one street that runs about 200 yards down a steep valley before turning out into the square and harbour. There are a handful of shops, a few restaurants and a few B&Bs. Given the fact that about half of everything was closed at this time of year, you had to work hard ... or laze on sunny rocks ... to find much to hold your interest beyond an hour. If you find yourself here, do take time to go into the church. Its ancient Medieval foundations, its sombre gloom and its location right on the water are wonderfully evocative of the past trials this village must have undergone when it had to harvest its living from the sea and the steep hills, rather than the tourists. Also noteworthy is a shop called Gocce di Byron, selling locally made perfumes and beauty products, and a jewelery and clothing shop just to your left when you enter the town with the train at your back that has a great variety of stuff at reasonable prices.

A warning: Vernazza's car park is 800 yards up a very steep road from the village itself. Part of the charm of the Cinque Terre is that there's no motorised traffic within them, but it makes sightseeing here challenging if you're not accustomed to exercise. Bring good walking shoes and be ready for a workout.

Our second village was Monterosso which, to be brutally honest, was a lot more attractive viewed from above than when walked through. Its location in a wider valley than Vernazza means it's spread out more and has a bigger population. It has a fine beach but, unfortunately, that's been separated from the rest of the village by train tracks, so you don't get the architecture-on-water punch of Vernazza. The shops tend to be of the tacky beach item variety (with the exception of one clothing place that had some beautiful knit items). There's another Ligurian-style striped church, and another photo-worthy defensive tower on a hill, but on the whole Monterosso wasn't worth much time.



It is most notable, therefore, for a fantastic restaurant in the hills above it. Highly recommended by my Terroir Guide to Liguria, La Ciliegie sits 200 metres above Monterosso and has remarkable views up and down the coast. It's a family run place where La Nonna (the grandmother) whips up delicacies in the kitchen while you watch through a huge hatch. We were the only people in the place in this deep off season time, until a bunch of family and friends trooped in to join us. Nonna was cooking, then popping out to join the party. I was vexed at myself for letting my Italian get so rusty, because we clearly could have joined this gang and had a fabulous time. I did manage to understand that the maker of our lunch time wine was sitting with them, and they were delighted with our presence. We started with a plate of little tarts made of cheese, pastry and seasonal wild greens. Then on to a massive, steaming pot of spaghetti with clams and mussels so fresh they had to have been pulled from the sea that morning. Next came a platter of local anchovies, both deep fried whole and filleted, breaded and fried. Fantastic. And, you will not be surprised to learn, we were far too stuffed to take them up on their offer of dessert.

With eating like that (and did I mention the local wine?) it's a damn good thing there's so much walking down here. On to Portovenere tomorrow.