The hot afternoon was nicely refreshed by a few granite di limone treats (a sort of lemon slushy) in downtown old Monterosso. Afterwards, we did a little bit of touring and shopping, but did not explore extensively. It was a nice enough place, to be sure, but as I said before, it was a little less "Cinque Terre-y" than the other towns. Now that we were finished with our walk, we were hankering to get back to Corniglia to spend the evening. After having seen all of the Cinque Terre towns, it was most definitely the most secluded, quiet, and "out-of-the-way" of the five.
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
Rose Window, Church of S. Giovanni Battista
courtesy JInnes
As I mentioned earlier, Monterosso al Mare is split into two parts - the old town, and separated by a low ridgeline, the new town. The train station is in the new section, and we had to walk a fair distance (including through a tunnel between the two sections) to get to it. Less than twenty minutes after boarding the southbound train from Monterosso, we were walking away from the platform below Corniglia, starting our 300-foot ascent up to the town on the scalinata della Lardarina.
courtesy RHanel
Climbing Corniglia's Scalinata
We decided to eat in for dinner tonight, and first stopped at Corniglia's small grocery store to obtain foodstuffs, including gnocchi and a bottle of local pesto sauce (pesto sauce originates from the Liguria region of Italy, so this was genuine local cuisine).
Another glorious Corniglia Sunset
After dinner we took a final passeggiata (evening walk) through the quiet streets of Corniglia, including a visit to the Terrace of Santa Maria, where we caught a nice view of a blood red sun descending into the sea. Compared to the crowds in the other towns, the twenty or so people gathered on the terrace made it seem virtually empty.
We didn't stay up too late on our final night in the Cinque Terre, for the next day was to be a full one, travelling first to the independent state of San Marino for a flash visit, and then on to Venice, where we would be starting another stay in an Airbnb apartment in (hopefully) another quiet and interesting locale.