Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
11
The Cinque Terre,
the Portofino
Promontory
& Genoa
Northwest Italy is a hot new travel destination.
by Pippa de Bruyne
M
Y FRIENDS ACCUSE ME OF EXAGGERATING THE BEAUTY OF THE LIGURIAN
Coast. They chuckle when I tell them how, at night, I'd watch the moon cast a
silver crease across the bay while church bells tolled the hour in a village that time
forgot. “Isn't the area overrun with tourists?” they ask. “Don't you need to go else-
where to see the best art and architecture?”
I answer “yes” and “yes,” but add that it doesn't really matter. The Cinque
Terre and other parts of Liguria do swarm with tourists in the summer and fall;
and you won't see the type of really important art and architecture that abounds
in the hill towns of Tuscany, Rome, and Venice. But these are small quibbles when
you're there hiking the hills, walking the cobblestone streets, or drinking the local
wine. There's a reason why this ancient land has become one of the top honey-
moon destinations in all of Italy: So much of what you experience here is impos-
sibly romantic, with exquisite vistas around nearly every corner.
Mother Nature was kind to Italy, but in Liguria her generosity knew no
bounds. The coastline forms a graceful arc, rising sharply into the foothills of the
Appenines, affording dizzying views of the sea that laps its shores.
West, toward the French Riviera, is the Riviera di Ponente, its crescent-shaped
bays and sandy beaches spawning a seemingly endless string of resort towns,
including the grand old dowager San
Remo. East, toward the Tuscan coast,
lies the Riviera di Levante, home to
the glamorous Portofino promontory
and the medieval villages that cling to
the jagged cliffs and terraced vineyards
of the Cinque Terre.
This eastern stretch of shore, a mere
2- to 3-hour drive from Florence and
Milan, is the coastline at its finest, its precipitous slopes punctuated by hidden
inlets and rocky coves, where boats bob and ancient abbeys cluster. Watch weather-
beaten old-timers bent double under sacks of grapes, or wander the medieval lanes
of villages seemingly untouched by time, and you'll be hooked forever.
“
There is nothing in Italy more
beautiful to me than the coast
between Genoa and La Spezia.
”
—Charles Dickens, 1845
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