Latterly the Cinque Terre have become, one of the main Italian tourist attractions.
The beauty of the places, the politics of preservation, the opportunities and the structures offered in fact bring back tourists from all over the world year after year, attracted by the possibility to visit places of great artistic and naturalistic interest which can be reached from here in a short time.
The main town municipality, La Spezia, for some time now a real and true site of the town planing transformations, picturesque neighbouring villages, like Levanto and Porto Venere, the green inland of Val di Vara, Riviera Ligure di Levante, with Camogli, Nervi and Portofino, cities of art like Firenze, Pisa, Lucca, Milano, Torino, Bologna, Parma and Genova are only some of the destinations which the tourist can easily reach from the Cinque Terre.
Levanto – Porto Venere
Levanto, a occidente delle Cinque Terre, è una cittadina balneare, adagiata in una valle ricoperta pini e oliveti.
Il borgo conserva ancora molte tracce del suo passato che lo vide importante centro di attività commerciali fin dal Medioevo. Ben conservati sono il castello, parte delle mura, la duecentesca chiesa di Sant’Andrea, la Loggia e la Casa Restani, un’antica abitazione ornata da bifore e trifore.
Porto Venere sorge all’estremità orientale della Cinque Terre.
Il borgo vanta molti monumenti importanti, il più importante dei quali è la chiesa di San Pietro, consacrata nel 1198.
Eretta su un costone di roccia a strapiombo sul mare, sulle rovine di un’antica struttura paleocristiana, l’edificio è in stile gotico-genovese.
Di grande interesse sono anche la chiesa parrocchiale di San Lorenzo e il sovrastante castello genovese, entrambi del XII secolo.
Val di Vara
From the Cinque Terre by car one quickly arrives in Val di Vara, a region rich with woods, water and history. The first village that one meet is Pignone, a village surrounded by houses which once upon a time had a defensive goal.
Then you reach Borghetto Vara, antique post house, where the santuario della Madonna dell’Acqua (Sanctuary of the Virgin Mary of Water) is interesting, perhaps build on the remains of a Longobard church.
A short distance away is Brugnato, nominated office already in 1133 of great interest is the Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Colombano (the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Colomban), dating back to 1000, and the archeological digs. You then reach Varese Ligure, noted for having promoted a development model based on environmental resources.
To visit, apart from the village itself, with its round plannng structure, the 1300 Casa del Capitano (the Captain’s House) and the restored Castello dei Fieschi.
La Spezia
La Spezia, the main town of the Province is only a few minutes from the Cinque Terre. It rises inside a real natural fiord, known as Golfo dei Poeti (Gulf of the Poets).
La Spezia developed rapidly from 1800 with the construction of the Military Arsenal, which brought a large increase in population and thereafter an immense growth in heavy industry and to the development of the mercantile port. Today due to the mutate economic conditions, the city is researching new vocations, oriented above all to the promotion of the environment, of tourism and of culture, as is evidenced by the various existing museums.
Above all the Museo Lia which hosts a collection of works of art comprised between Medieval times and 1700, and the Museo Navale (Naval Museum) which holds models of ships, medals and documents dedicated to the Marina Militare (Royal Navy).
Cities of Art
Firenze (Florence) boasts a historical centre which consists in monuments of exceptional importance. Amongst them Piazza della Signoria with the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace), Galleria degli Uffizi (Gallery of the Uffizi), the Duomo (Cathedral), the Campanile di Giotto (the Bell Tower of Giotto) and the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge).
Pisa is noted for its Piazza dei Miracoli (Miracle Square), consisting of the Torre Pendente (Leaning Tower), which is none other than the bell tower of the Cathedral close by, an imposing building with five aisles layout and facade in grey and white marble. The square is completed by the Battistero dedicated San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist).
Genova (Genoa), old Marine Republic, which has a historical centre characterised by a network of narrow “carugi”, roads and squares which, between degradation and tradition constitute the most lively part of the city. Symbols of the city are the Lanterna (lantern) old door light, the fontana di piazza De Ferrari (the fountain of De Ferrari square) and the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence’s Cathedral), built in the XII century.
