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View Of Cinque Terre From Path Number 1

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View Of Cinque Terre From Path Number 1

I talked with some people who said that the hike from Levanto to Monterosso in the Cinque Terre region of Italy was very pretty so I decided to give it a go. I had a hiking guide that described the hike, noting all the viewpoints and turnoffs but starting in the other direction. Since I was hiking by myself, I decided to go in the direction where I had the most information!

My choices were to climb steeply from Monterosso up to the ridge and then on to Levanto, or to first take a bus to someplace Colle di Gritta and hike from there. My hiking guide that said the second option was longer, but the views were better. It also said that there was less actual climbing on the second route since Colle di Gritta was already at the top of the mountain.

I had injured my knees (actually re-injured my 40+ year knee injury) several days prior and climbing doesn’t hurt so much as the descent. So the reduced climbing on the latter route was not an issue, I knew the pain was in going down, not up! But since I wanted to take photos, I elected for ‘the views were better’ route. The first part was the bus to Colle di Gritta. I was getting to be a pro on the small buses around Cinque Terre and I easily found my bus. The tricky part was figuring out when to get off. But the driver was helpful, and in the middle of nowhere, he announced that I was at my stop!

There was actually one building there, a little cafe/B&B type place. I fortified myself with an espresso and off I went. For 2+ hours I was quite alone on the trail, enjoying the views and the peace and solitude without any of the trail running groups, singing boy scout groups, and very determined hiking groups that seem to be common in the area! This view is taken from the part of the path along the eastern slope of Monte Ve Focone where you get a good view towards the south down the coast of the Cinque Terre. From here you see just a bit of Monterosso in the curve of the shoreline, some vineyards along the mountain slopes and in the hazy distance the town of Vernazza. The blue of the Ligurian Sea was, as always, stunning!

Hiking in the morning is always cooler and less crowded but in this instance you are facing into the sun. Not ideal for photos, but still wonderful for being ‘in the moment’. It isn’t hard to see why the entire zone of the Cinque Terre is called the Italian Riviera and has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a national park.

If you are interested in the hiking path description of this section, here it is: “This sixth and last leg is 10 kilometres long with a height difference of 220 metres high, reaching maximum height at 460 metres at Monte Rossini. The average completion time is 3 hours. The walk again goes through pinewoods till one reaches Monte Rossini and then descends to Sella dei Bagari, a crossroads for various paths. At this point the path follows the ridge of Monte Focone towards Punta Mesco, along which one meets the path that leads to Monterosso and one takes a detour towards Levanto. Along the path one comes up against Casa Lovara and Casa Meridiana. One proceeds on an almost level path till one reaches the tarmac road to Mesco. Here one descends for a brief stretch until one reaches the path made up of large steps. One passes next to the house used by Guglielmo Marconi for his radio transmission experiments. After a little while one reaches the castle, where one can take stairs going to the sea promenade.”

At that point, I was obsessed with finding gelato!