The Five Towns: Cinque Terre

Google pictures of Italy, and you'll see the Colosseum, the rolling hills of Tuscany, and the colorful villages of the Cinque Terre. On our last day in Italy, we signed up for a day tour that would pick us up in Florence, drive us the (approximately) two hours to Cinque Terre, tour the villages, and drives us back. We met at the train station in Florence, where we were greeted by two tour guides - Sarah and Stefano. (Sarah and Stefano actually work for a company called Walkabout Tours. Our tour was booked through Viator, and then sourced to them.) These two would be with us for the drive and then split into two groups, with Sarah leading our half. Sarah is a native of Florence and does tours almost every day throughout Tuscany, all starting from Florence.

All along the drive, Sarah and Stefano shared a lot about Cinque Terre as a whole and the sites we were seeing along the way. One of the stories that stuck out to me was driving past the town of Carrara. They pointed out the beautiful mountains and we could see the marble in the mountains - hence the name, Carrara marble. Such a silly a-ha moment for us!

Our new home - ha!

Cinque Terre is the youngest national park of Italy, founded only in 1999, and is also a UNESCO world heritage site. Within the park itself, there are actually several small villages, but it is most famous for the five you regularly see photos of, hence the name of the area: Corniglia, Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Riomaggiore and Manarola. You can hike between all of the villages, or take the train, depending on your time and interests. With our schedule for the day, we would be doing a little of both. (Driving is strongly discouraged because there is little to no parking in the villages.) Cinque Terre is also a sister site to the Great Wall of China. The reason being, it is said to be true that if you lay out all of the Cinque Terre terraces next to each other, they will stretch as long as the Great Wall. The terraces are necessary for the support structure of the vines and grapes in the region, because of the steepness of the hills. The terraces are so hard to maintain, that the Italian government will actually give you land for free, and you won't have to pay taxes, if you agree to live here and maintain the terraces. So many people move to open a bar or restaurant, because the work is so difficult, that they need to people to help support them. So.....bye! We're packing our bags and moving. :)

Okay fine, maybe not.....yet. But on with the hike! Our first stretch of the trip was hiking from our dropoff point at the peak of the hill, down to the first town of Corniglia. This hike took about an hour and was about 100 meter drop in elevation. It was a really beautiful and peaceful hike, but the last stretch had a steep decline, so be prepared to go slowly so it doesn't hurt your knees.

Seafood appetizer

Following our hike, we had a pre-arranged lunch in Corniglia with locally sourced food. Being right on the coast, seafood is a top meal to eat here. Bryan wasn't brave enough to try it (he went for the meat plate) but I wanted to go with the flow of where we were. The appetizer consisted of a fried anchovy with octopus, clams, mussels and shrimp with potatoes. This was followed by our main course, pesto pasta (which Bryan did eat). Cinque Terre is part of the Ligurian region of Italy, home to pesto. It was so delicious I forgot to snap a photo of it.....does that mean it didn't actually exist?

After lunch, we had about an hour to wander the streets of Corniglia and do what we wanted. Bryan and I explored the town, and then stopped for what else? Gelato. You might have guessed wine, which would have been a good guess also, but this was easier to walk around with. :)

From Corniglia, we took the train to Vernazza where Sarah gave us a few recommendations of things to do. It was here that we went for the wine. We went into a small little shop that offered us a taste of three local wines: Vermentino, Cinque Terre and Sciacchetra (pronounced shakeetara). The latter is a dessert wine that came highly recommended to try......and to try and say. :) The wine tasting took a bit long, so by the time we were done, we had enough time to take a picture of the street of Vernazza and head back to the train.

Next up, Monterosso al Mare! In this town, we had the most free time to do what we wanted. We first followed Sarah as she shared a bit about the history of the town and showed us some highlights. It was here she pointed out a good shop to purchase some pesto to bring back (I wanted some from the region it came from!). There were also some stores that highlighted the fact that we could order some wine to go, so we did. :) We got a glass and walked slowly through town, enjoying the view. It was around this time the weather started picking up and it got windy, but we walked down to the beach anyway to enjoy the sound of the water moving in the wind.

During this trip, we were also supposed to visit the town of Riomaggiore, but that trip was to be made by boat - how fun! Unfortunately, because the wind was so strong, this part of the trip had to be cancelled and we didn't get to visit that town. We kind of expected that ahead of time. In May in Italy, the weather can still be rainy, so just be prepared you can't always do what you plan to!

Our last stop was beautiful Manarola. More than likely, when you see pictures of Cinque Terre, it's this town that you see - but they're all beautiful no matter what! Arriving in Manarola, we climbed to the top of the village through some of the homes, where Sarah shared a bit more about the towns. Apparently, when the homes were built, you had to pick one of eight colors to paint your home and then that was it - you couldn't change the color. That's why it's as beautiful as it is. And back in the day, a fisherman's boat color matched the color of his home. This way, wives could look out on the water and more easily find their husband, and vice versa. And when a husband would see smoke coming from his chimney, he knew it was time to head in because dinner was almost ready.

Beautiful Manarola

The homes were originally built as towers with an entrance in the front and back. This way, if pirates came to town, you could escape out the other door and not run into the pirates. These tower homes have now been split into smaller properties and condos. Want to buy one of these beauties? Don't we all. Minimum price for a property in the Cinque Terre - 1 million euro. Start saving your pennies!

After our lesson on the homes of Manarola, we again had some free time. We walked what's called the Path of Love, which leads outside the city of Manarola into Riomaggiore. Currently, you cannot walk the entire distance between the two cities on this path, but you can get just outside for gorgeous views of the town. The wind had really picked up by this point, so we snapped a quick photo and headed back to town where we enjoyed some glasses of Cinque Terre wine before heading to the train and catching our bus back to Florence.

During our tour, we discovered our guide, Sarah, lived in the neighborhood we stayed in, Santa Croce, so we asked her for some local recommendations on where to stop for a quick bite to eat on the way home. Her suggestion was a place called Il Vivandiere, which serves great small plates. Unfortunately, we had a terrible time trying to find it (imagine that one). We were so tired that we just found a pizza place near the house and called it a night!

We couldn't have imagined a better way to end our time in Italy. If you go, I highly recommend adding this tour to your list and hope you get to enjoy our guide Sarah as much as we did!

Climbing the Duomo and Wine Tasting in Chianti

First in line at 8am!

A few weeks before leaving on our trip, we started digging in deeper to the activities of Florence to determine what we wanted to book or reserve. One of the more unique things we discovered was the climb to the top of the Duomo. For around 20 euros, you can gain entrance into the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Santa Reparata, Giotto's Bell Tower, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and Brunelleschi's Dome. Keep in mind, you MUST have a reservation time in order to climb the dome and once you select it, it cannot be changed. We decided to pick the earliest time, 8:30am, so that we wouldn't have to worry too much about a crowd. In fact, we got in line at 8 to get ahead of the crowd even more - and were first in line! Coupled with the fact that we were at sea level, it allowed us to move pretty quickly up the 463 steps. Yup, you read that right. 463 steps and pretty much straight up in a very narrow stairwell, in a circular motion. The stairs you climb are actually the stairs that were used to build the dome years ago and while it was a fun workout (feel the burn in the legs) it made me dizzy! Ha! I had to pause more to stop the spinning versus rest my legs. :) Right at the top, you practically climb up a ladder to pop out at the top and get the most incredible views of Florence.

Panoramic view of Florence

The steepness of the stairs

After our climb, we walked back to the house to shower and clean up, but had to stop for some gelato first. Hey, we just climbed up 463 steps, we earned those calories!

After we cleaned up, we slowly started walking toward the train station for our next tour pickup. As we made our way through town, we stopped by the Medici Chapels (fee required, which we didn't pay), the burial site of the Medici family, and then went to Mercato Centrale, a market with everything you could wish for. Outside of the market there are a lot of vendors selling leather, scarves, anything you could want, and you can bargain for a good deal, but inside the market is the good stuff. The lower level is essentially a farmers market with everything from butcher shops to fresh cheese, pasta, limoncello, the list goes on. If you head to the second level, you will find an open food court with so many options to eat - that aren't just Italian! Here we stopped to grab some lunch and people watch before meeting our tour group.

Near the train station of Florence, we met our tour guide, Barbara, and climbed aboard our bus to Tuscany. We both love Chianti wine, and I've always dreamed of driving through Tuscany to visit wine country. This tour drove us one hour into Tuscany, where we stopped at a couple of wineries, the capital of Chianti and a castle town before heading back to Florence.

Our tour guide Barbara was quite the show herself. Not only did she have incredible stories to share about the history of Italian wine, but she also did it in three languages! We had English, French and Spanish on our tour - and she told us she speaks five in total - wow!! While driving through, she told us how to recognize true Chianti Classico wine and what to look for. One the wine you buy at the store, there will be a small sticker near the cork of a black rooster. If the black rooster is on the bottle, this means it is true chianti classico, from this region. If it's not there, it came from a different region - not the real stuff!

Our first stop was a family owned winery called Riseccoli, that was built in 1635. This winery is owned by the family of Romano Romanelli - an artist who created the bronze bust of Benvenuto Cellini, that you can find on the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The winery is very small and doesn't distribute outside of their walls. They make 10,000 bottles a year, but due to modern technology can bottle all of that within two hours. And yes, we bought a bottle to bring home. :)

With our bottle in Tuscany!

Our next stop was Greve in Chianti, the capital of the Chianti region. Here we had about 30 minutes to shop, drink some wine, get a snack or some gelato and just explore. Because it was such a small town, it was here that I really experienced how much the residents appreciate you trying even a little to speak their language. We got some free sweet treats because I at least tried. 

Next up was our second winery stop, called Poggio Amorelli. Another winery that does not distribute, but is so famous that the Forbes family comes here for wine. We met our sommelier, Lorenzo (such incredible knowledge and humor), out front who gave us some history of the winery before taking us inside. At this winery, they do not share any of their grapes with other wineries, nor do they accept any. The chianti reserve grapes are picked especially by the owner, before the other employees take over. He also taught us that in the Chianti region, they don't irrigate, because they don't need to. The climate of the region creates the great wine and grapes all on its own.

Lorenzo

When we went inside, we had a selection of wines and balsamic vinegars to taste. A couple of tidbits we learned - when looking at your wine, if it has a violet color on the side of the glass, it means it is a younger wine. And when purchasing balsamic vinegar (which we don't really use), look for the IGP DOP certification - this means it is the best of the best from this region.

We left deciding to ship three bottles home. We weren't planning to ship wine home, but it was only $5 a bottle (with a three bottle minimum rather than six) so we decided to do three and keep a couple on our shelves for years to come!

Our last stop before heading home was a small town called Castellina in Chianti, which translates to, small castle town. And yes, there was a small castle. While this town was beautiful, we had such a short amount of time here that we pretty much walked the street, took a photo and headed for the bus. We took a short nap on the way back because we weren't feeling well. Oh yeah, did I mention that we were sick this whole afternoon? Around lunch time, we started feeling tired, but just thought it was the busy morning. Nope. A full on fever hit me, and Bryan was close behind and we just had to keep powering through. This was the part of the trip that I was probably looking forward to the most, I wasn't going to let a little fever get in the way! Why do I share this with you? Just so you know the whole trip wasn't picture perfect. Ha!

After getting back to Florence, we stopped for dinner and then went home so we get some much needed sleep.......we were hiking the next day! More to come on Cinque Terre next time.......

Florence: The Renaissance Walk

On this day we left Turin for Florence. We took an early train because we wanted to spend as much time in Florence as we could, and arrived around lunchtime. We walked to our AirBnb, which was located in the Santa Croce neighborhood of Florence, and met Gio, our amazing host. Gio checked us into our home, gave us a ton of recommendations for the city, and left us to explore.

Waiting in line for a sandwich

First up, was a short walk to All'Antico Vinaio for a sandwich. I know I said there will be another post all about food, but if you know anything about Florence, then you've heard of this shop. A huge sandwich, along with a huge line, for just a few euros. It was well worth the wait, as the sandwiches were delicious, and well worth the laughs watching every teenage girl pose with their sandwich in front of the shop for a photo....and almost falling while doing it. We, however, decided to backtrack a bit and eat our sandwich in the plaza of the Santa Croce church. Beautiful views and people watching. 

After lunch, we walked a couple of blocks to the Leather School of Florence. A bit about Florence and it's leather fame: Florence is one of those unique cities that has a lot of seafood, because of it's fairly close proximity to the water, but also a great place to eat steak or beef, with a lot of cattle in the region. Historically, Italians used every bit of the cow, from a wide range of meals (yes, every single inside of the cow) to the skin, which is why Florence is so well known for it's
leathers. We thought it would be fun to purchase something leather, but wanted to make sure it was good quality, and not a cheap knockoff. That's when I found the leather school. Not only could we watch students making leather products, but there were great show rooms with items ranging from luggage tags, coin purses, up to purses and jackets. We stuck near the belt and wallet range so it wouldn't hurt OUR wallet too much. :)

After our shopping excursion, we stopped at home quick to drop off our goodies since we were just a few blocks away. Our home was also around the corner from the former home of Michelango, so we stopped for a quick photo. It was surprisingly underwhelming from the exterior, but if you want to enter, there is a museum for eight euros you can visit. After we dropped off our goodies, we made our way back to the Duomo and ordered a bottle of wine to sit in the beauty of Florence and get plenty of photos of the famed dome.

We planned to just wander Florence and take in all of the history. Since we didn't want to miss anything, we had brought with us part of Rick Steves' book that has a great walking tour of Florence called the Renaissance Walk. I mentioned in an earlier post that I wasn't a big fan of Rick Steves' books, but what I DO love and recommend in them are his walking tours. An easy way to see the town and learn all about it. If you don't buy the book, you can download the audio tour for free on his website. Here are the sites and stops of the Renaissance Walk. Keep in mind, every stop had incredible detail about the origin and details you looked at. I won't go through them here, but check out the Rick Steves website for more:

1. The Duomo
2. Brunelleschi's Dome
3. Church and Bell Tower
4. Baptistery Contest Doors
5. Baptistery "Gates of Paradise"
6. Via de'Calzaiuoli (Pedestrian street connecting the Duomo to the rest of the walk, with a gelato shop about every other door)
7. Orsanmichele Church
8. Piazza Signoria
9. Palazzo Vecchio (town hall of Florence and hosts a replica of the David)
10. Savonarola plaque (Exact spot where preacher Savonarola was hanged)
11. Uffizi Courtyard (Uffizi gallery is one of the largest art museums of the world, with many pieces of art from the Medici family and Italian Renaissance era)
12. View of the Arno River
13. Ponte Vecchio ('Old Bridge'. Shops all along the bridge, now famed for gold, silver and souvenirs. During World War II, all bridges in Florence were destroyed by the Germans, except this one.)

At the end of our tour, we crossed the Ponte Vecchio, into the neighborhood called Oltrarno (other side of the Arno) and stopped for an apertivo at a cute place called Golden View Open Bar. We each did a wine flight, had a snack and enjoyed the beautiful view of the bridge and the Arno river. Just a few blocks south of here, was the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. (For those interested, the Boboli Gardens is host of the site where Kim Kardashian and Kanye West got married. There's your pop culture - ha!) The Pitti Palace used to be the residence of the Medici family, a base for Napoleon and the capital of the unified Italy. Now, it is the largest museum complex in Florence.

We then made our way to Osteria Santo Spirito where we made a reservation for dinner to come back later. Restaurants in Italy are very tiny, so almost all require a reservation for dinner. We were thrill
ed that we had a great seat outside just next to the square, to enjoy our wine and most famous at this restaurant, the gnocchi. It was a great way to end our first night in Florence after a relaxing day of wandering the city and taking in the history this beautiful town has to offer .We went to bed that night understanding exactly why everyone falls in love with Florence.