The Cinque Terre
Throughout the years man has laboriously hewn out a living in hostile surroundings moulded by distant geological events. Here, five villages Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore make up the renowned Cinque Terre: a singular land scape of both spirit and harmony.
Over the years, the people have succeeded in imposing their will on this difficult landscape through terrace cultivation consisting of narrow strips of land on the hillside or sheer cliffs called "fasce". Man has had to build countless short dry walls "muretti" and steps to support the steep strips of land. From a research carried out by naturalists it seems that, over thousands of years, the inhabitants of the Cinque Terre have carried out an enormous task in constructing and repairing these famous short dry walls "muretti". So much so that the two-metre-high, eleven thousand kilometre long network of dry walls is comparable to the Great Wall of China.
Perhaps it is the hard work that the farmers have been carrying out for hundreds of years together with the air made salty by the sea spray on stormy days that have made the grapes so sweet and the olives and lemons so tasty.
Even today, it is not easy to reach the five villages, arriving either by train or along the winding roads. However, these access difficulties are the surest guarantee for the preservation of this characteristic and unique landscape.