Towns comprising the "Sentiero Azzurro" - Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso

As the northern hemisphere shakes off it winter cloak, visitors will start venturing to many of the beautiful and enchanting Italian locations: amongst the most popular are the Cinque Terre (Five Lands).

The Cinque Terre offer a translucent sea and cliffs plunging into the water; towns clinging to rocky slopes, and terraces dug into the contours of the mountains directly behind the coast. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site; a national park encompassing some 20km of coast and the immediate hinterland.

An extraordinary architectural landscape

Because of its popularity, picture-postcard scenery and sheer beauty, visitors flock to the five enchanting Ligurian coastal towns of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore during the summer months. If you want to avoid the crowds, Spring is the ideal season to visit.  

However, a recent article in Britain's, "The Independent" newspaper warns that some of the walks will be out-of-bounds for some time, and the writer, Simon Calder, suggests alternative options.

Here's a link to the article that appeared in "The Independent" on Saturday, 19 March, 2011. Note the comment at the conclusion of the article. Path Master: Liguria's five-star short cut

The Cinque Terre a UNESCO World Heritage listed national park

A characteristic stop in "Via dell'Amore" (Lovers' Lane) along the paths from Manarola to Riomaggiore