31st May

Apparently in the earliest days this remote area was inhabited by a few hilltop villages connected only by paths. The people were ruled by Genoa rather than Italy and hung on despite wars, plagues and the harshest of nature’s ways including wild seas that they were afraid of. Over the years they have increased the arable land by creating close drystone terraces, almost 7000kms of them, down the hillsides.   You have to be impressed by how these people collaboratively worked to create a system that everyone could take advantage of rather than being selfish and just looking after their own plots.  It was a hard life though with landslides quite common and wild seas with poor harbours, not to mention raids by pirates.  Back in the 90s, through lack of population, and lack of interest in hard work, the terraces began to fail under pressure from the environment and the native scrub moving back in. The National Park was established in 1999 with the goals to stop degradation, provide protection for villagers against danger of landslides and re-establish the region as a winegrowing one.  A careful balance between the natural environment and the archaeological value of the built terracing has been achieved.

This morning we headed out to walk the Manarola-Corniglia trail that follows the coast, short but quite difficult, but we discovered the track has been closed due to landslides so we took on the more adventurous trekking trail across the hills.  About 2 hrs later we arrived in Corniglia and took a rest and had lunch.  It was a pretty tough hike and not one to move like a mountain gazelle, but more like a heffalump with a limp, very pleased with myself for getting to the end in good shape.  So good in fact that we then took the train to Riomaggiore and walked the easy coast trail home.  One very notable good decision we have made is to not stay in Corniglia where the track from the station to the village climbs steeply over steps that switchback up the side of the cliff.  We can’t imagine how people manage to haul luggage up there.