Vernazza

Vernazza is the fourth of the five villages of the Cinque Terre, counting from the south, and for many the most perfectly composed. Its tall, narrow houses in faded reds, yellows and pinks crowd around a small cove that is the only natural harbour on this stretch of the Ligurian coast, with a little piazza opening straight onto the boats and the water. Above, the steep slopes are cut into vineyard terraces held up by dry-stone walls, a landscape shaped by centuries of patient labour that, together with the villages, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1997.

The village is recorded as a fortified settlement in 1080, when it served as a maritime base for the Obertenghi, a family of medieval Italian nobility. On the rocky spur west of the harbour rises the Doria castle, whose tower was built in the fifteenth century as a lookout against pirates, and from which the view runs along the whole coast. On the other side of the cove, the church of Santa Margherita di Antiochia, first recorded in 1318, sits almost on the water, its octagonal bell tower rising from the apse end rather than the façade.

Vernazza's charm lies in its tightness. A single main street runs down to the harbour, and side lanes branch off as stairways between the houses. The village has no car traffic, which keeps the piazza for people, fishing boats and café tables. In October 2011 torrential rain sent a torrent of mud and debris through that same street, burying the lower village under several metres; it was patiently dug out and rebuilt.

The finest way to see Vernazza is to arrive on foot along the coastal path from Monterosso or Corniglia, when the village appears suddenly below, tower and bell tower framing the harbour, or to watch it from the harbour wall as the evening light warms the façades.

Getting there

Vernazza is about 12 km from La Spezia, and the nearest airport is Pisa International Airport (PSA), about 76 km away. The village has its own station on the Genoa–La Spezia railway, with frequent regional trains linking the five villages; the coastal path also connects all of them. The village itself is closed to cars.