We already have a place booked for 3 nights in Corniglia, and I don’t know if I’m up for change this close to the trip but I’m gonna do some digging today!
Well, two things to your advantage: you’re going in April before it’s fully high season (but be prepared for crowds nevertheless) and Corniglia is the least touristed of the 5 villages due to its location.
It may be worth it for you to see the CT once if you’ve never been, and on a future trip explore other places in Liguria. It’s a beautiful region. At least you’re spending some nights in the CT and not just day-tripping there.
Yes that’s one of the reasons why I picked Corniglia! My brother and I are staying 6 nights in Florence then finishing in the CT. We were originally going to just do a day trip but I knew I’d want more time by the sea.
Thanks for all of the info! If we ever make it to Italy again I’ll for sure look at other places in Liguria.
I traveled through the cinque terre in summer of 2023 without even stopping there. I actually thought I was going to be crushed to death by the crowd on the train. It was a moment of genuine terror and disgust!
I just wrote a similar post on overtourism in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon.
My comment was insufficient to the import and perfect words of your article. But all you said hit me emotionally and protectively. Deep insights in a poetic cautionary tale!
I appreciate this post and your perspective Chandi. I was last in the Cinque Terre in the mid-90s and in 2002 and remember it as that idyllic, quiet coastal dream. I'm sad that it is so overrun (and by Americans, shame on us) and while I'd love to see it again, I think I'll just keep my memories and explore other places in Italy. I lived in Florence for a year and saw much of the country, but not near enough!
I had a similar Cinque Terre experience to yours, Paige, but in 1999. My husband and I stayed late one night in one of the more southerly villages and got locked out of the trail back to our flat in Corniglia. We’re not scofflaws, but we climbed over the gate and made our way back to Corniglia on what had to be the most romantic moonlight walk of our lives—the moonlit sea to our left and the mountains rising up to our right. It is a memory we treasure to this day— along with meeting lovely shopkeepers, drinking the local wine, eating the best pizza marguerita, and renting an apartment frim an older Italuan woman who would was “keeper of the keys”. She walked around the village if Corniglia with a paper bag full of keys. If you could locate her, she would find you rooms in exchange for your passport. At the end of your stay you’d have to walk through the village to find her again, return the keys and retrieve your passport. Absolutely priceless memory!! After reading this article and hearing more than one of my Italy savvy friends, telling me how terribly awful the CT has become, I’d rather not return. However, I will hold onto those wonderful memories from the 1990s.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Paige, and I am glad you visited the Cinque Terre in the mid-90s! I know what you mean about not seeing enough of Italy. The more we go deep, the more we want to see. I too, want to see more, especially historical sites that I haven't seen yet. But my budget is too low to travel much outside of Florence these days. Hoping that will change!
It's because English speakers are familiar with the word "Terra"; as an alternate word for "earth". derived from Latin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra
Yeah, that's probably it. I was thinking about other Italian locations that end in "e" like Este, which Americans don't call "Esta", or locations that begin with "e" like Empoli, which is not called "Ampoli", so clearly it's possible to do the "e" correctly. You're right, the mind must default to "Terra", even if most Americans these days are not versed in Latin. 😉
Not just Americans (I'm Canadian), terra is word that exists in the vocabulary of many English speakers in expressions like "terra firma" (literally "firm land" meaning dry land as opposed to water). It's also used as the root of many English words like "subterranean" (which comes from the Latin "under earth") or the word "terrarium" (a sealed container with earth and plants as opposed to an aquarium which holds water). Other English words with this root are terrain, extraterrestrial, terrace, terra cotta, territory and terrier.
I understand what you are saying. As an academic who has focused on European history from the ancient world to the Renaissance, and who speaks Italian, I am certainly familiar with the term terra firma. However, it is by no means a common term among students in my classes or clients whose trips I plan. If they default to the word terra, instead of terre, when talking about the Cinque Terre, I believe that for the most part, the word terra would be a subliminal word below their conscious awareness. Unconsciously it would feel more comfortable for them, but many of them would not necessarily know why. Certainly none have ever said to me "Oh, because of terra firma!"
I agree, I don't think it's conscious either. I myself had to think about why I also tend to default to this incorrect pronunciation myself if I'm not thinking about it.
Thank you so much for this! I first went to Porto Venere (which is weirdly now kind of considered part of Cinque Terre from what I was told) in 1990 when I was just a pup. It made such an impression on me and I wanted to go to Cinque Terre at that time (the proper parts) buta was unable to. Thus it was a "dream" to hike through and I finally did in 2019, yes almost 30 years later. And while I love it (off season) and cherish my time there, it was overcrowded with tourists as you mentioned in your article. Though post covid, even more places are now :( There are so many other amazing options in countries around the world but when people from the US (or elsewhere) are looking, they only find what's been (over)written about. This also happens in America. For example, when I drove across the country I had heard and read so much about Savannah, GA but had never heard of Natchez MI, which quickly became one of my favorite "hidden gems". I think people may have to nomad it for awhile or live in a country and meet other locals or nomads to uncover new places but then if influencers write about those places the same thing will happen :( I love that you requested people who are only interested in travel for their "instagram moments" rethink this. Thank you again for this article!
Thanks for sharing your experiences Kimberly. Wonderful that you visited Porto Venere back in 1990. I'm sorry you didn't make it to the CT on that trip. My mind still struggles to accept that a door has been so firmly shut and locked on the way this location is experienced--a location that had been the same for centuries, and then poof, over the course of a few decades, the experience of it is irrevocably changed.
Yes :( And your appropriate observations (reality) about how the people who live there are so adversely affected. I wonder what the solution may be, like limiting tourism to the entire area, but how? There's a sweet little fishing village near where I live in Northern Portugal and I've visited on several occasions. During the day it can fill up with tourists (though not nearly as many as CT) but in the mornings I experience what you mentioned about the olden days of CT. I get to speak with the locals in Portuguese as everyone sits on their front stoops.
Yeesssss- or si si si!! This. My husband and I stayed for two weeks in Riomaggoire awaiting his graduate program to start 20 years ago. It was quiet and we’d sit outside every night and toast the sunset. No crowds. Easy trains. This was in September though…
Two years ago we stayed in Manarola for a few nights with our three kids. I was appalled at the number of selfies on the trail and generally the number of American tourists. I asked the shopkeeper how he managed to stay so nice - I wanted to apologize for all of us. The selfie thing is generally obnoxious and limited to younger people. Sorry, younger people. I have one too. But I’m dying at the conversation you overheard 😅. Jump off rocks? Those rocks are literally everywhere, including France.
Hi Jen, thanks for sharing your experience. I have asked shop owners similar things. I recount an instance in my memoir when I was surprised by a young guy's response in a bakery. It was 2009. I was on a solo walk on Italy's pilgrimage route and took a detour to the CT. It was a lot more crowded than I'd ever seen it. I thought the guy was going to agree with me, about my concerns, but he said he didn't care because the money was good.
Well that is a lot of why they put up with it I’m sure. They just make a lot during the summer and hopefully get to relax a bit in winter. Same for me where I live (we are not making money off tourists but our summers here get so crowded on the weekends). I’m in Colorado.
Sooner or later, people have to stop using TikTok as their primary source of travel information-- it's reducing the whole of the Mediterranean to a place where you sip a spritz and shoot a photo. When I'm in Rome or Florence, I keep thinking that Italy is absolutely maxed-out on tourism. But then when I go just outside to Tuscia, Umbria, Marche and other places I realize that there are literally thousands of incredible locations to see that are almost empty, even in high season. Somehow, the country has to find a way to spread these visitors out into regions and towns that have just as much to offer as the major tourist centers. As you so aptly explained: there are other beaches with sea and rocks to swim from.
Sigh. Yeah, it's a quandary. Because I do appreciate his philosophy and his statement that travel is a political act. He believes, as I do, that in-depth, thoughtful travel increases tolerance and cross-cultural understanding. But, at the same time, it was his promotion of the CT that had the largest impact on causing the masses to go there.
I may be guilty of having pronounced an “a” instead of “e” on the word Terre, and I hope to be forgiven if so. I did tour the villages, but with a small responsible tour group that stayed in Lerici, and we also visited and learned about the other villages in the area, including parts of Lunigiana just next door. I can see the day arriving when it will be necessary to limit the numbers of visitors to the villages, especially day trippers and cruise passengers. Only a few miles away are deserted castles in hilltop villages, and peaceful chestnut forests to hike.
Awww, your comment made me smile. You are forgiven. And now you get to practice the "e" at the ends of all Italian words! Fun homework, right? 😄
The tour you were part of does indeed sound responsible and conscientious. The cruises have got to go. Total menace.
Glad you saw Lerici and the Lunigiana. I walked through the Lunigiana on my pilgrimage. A very interesting area full of WWII history. You might enjoy my book!
I loved this post, Chandi, and I look forward to future ones in this series! Perhaps you’d be interested in some insights on Bologna, which in my born-and-raised local opinion is currently the fastest booming destination for American tourists to Italy (alongside Puglia and maybe Basilicata). When I first lived in the US in 2010, no one had heard the name; now it’s routinely on honeymooners’ list, and the New York Times travel section mentions Bologna or Emilia-Romagna once a month.
An aside: I spent the last couple of days looking into agriturismi for a getaway with my boyfriend at the end of August when we’re in Italy. I’ve noticed for most places, their costlier room options are all sold out, while cheaper rooms remain available. That struck me because it’s usually the other way around. The only way I can explain it is that USD-carrying holidaymakers cannot believe how relatively inexpensive a superior suite can be in Italy when the same in the US would run for hundreds if not thousands of dollars a night. There is no way hotel suites would sell out with Italian vacationers.
Ciao Enrica! Thanks for sharing about Bologna. Gawd, people you met in the US in 2010 had not heard of Bologna? Wow! 😲 It's the location of the oldest university in Europe! In my opinion it should be commonly known as part of a good liberal arts education, but I guess most people don't care about that anymore.
Where in Italy are you going for your agriturismo getaway?
I’ve only walked le Cinque Terre during the off seasons and have been lucky enough to have done so before these recent years of crushing crowds. As it is simple to take the train there from Lucca, I’ve taken many friends over the years to hike those craggy hillsides and marvel at the colorful villages, the panoramic vistas, and the tiny vineyards tucked into surprising spaces. You’ve made so many thoughtful points Chandi… much to ponder.
As for pronunciation of “the chinka terra”, that Italian “e” sound is very difficult for English speakers, particularly at the end of a word. We have many words ending in “a”, many of them Spanish or Italian words such as plaza or pizza. But I cannot think of any word we use with the Italian “e” sound, can you? Shoot, I cannot even say my last name properly in Italian, and it IS Italian! lol
Ciao Noreen, yes, we are both lucky to have spent time there in pre-over-tourism days. I think you may be too self-deprecating about your pronunciation of your last name. I believe you say it perfectly 😉 Thanks for weighing in though, about the "E". With Italian words that begin with "E", such as the locations of Empoli, or Este, it is curious because Americans don't turn those "Es" into "As". They don't say Asta, or Ampoli. And with the ending of Este, they don't say Esta... so I still can't figure it out. 🤷♀️
Thank you!
😀
What seaside town in Liguria would you recommend? My brother and I are going to the cinque terre end of April but I’d be open to a different place!
Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure, Moneglia, Bonassola, Porto Venere, Sestri Levante
Thanks!
Let me know how it goes!
We already have a place booked for 3 nights in Corniglia, and I don’t know if I’m up for change this close to the trip but I’m gonna do some digging today!
Well, two things to your advantage: you’re going in April before it’s fully high season (but be prepared for crowds nevertheless) and Corniglia is the least touristed of the 5 villages due to its location.
It may be worth it for you to see the CT once if you’ve never been, and on a future trip explore other places in Liguria. It’s a beautiful region. At least you’re spending some nights in the CT and not just day-tripping there.
Yes that’s one of the reasons why I picked Corniglia! My brother and I are staying 6 nights in Florence then finishing in the CT. We were originally going to just do a day trip but I knew I’d want more time by the sea.
Thanks for all of the info! If we ever make it to Italy again I’ll for sure look at other places in Liguria.
Loved reading this.
I traveled through the cinque terre in summer of 2023 without even stopping there. I actually thought I was going to be crushed to death by the crowd on the train. It was a moment of genuine terror and disgust!
I just wrote a similar post on overtourism in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon.
Hi Audrey,
I hear you. Who wants to be a crushed by crowds on a train on their vacation? I will check out your article!
This made me cry (and laugh!). It’s essentially very sad…
😮 I guess that’s a successful article if it elicited both crying and laughing! 😀
My comment was insufficient to the import and perfect words of your article. But all you said hit me emotionally and protectively. Deep insights in a poetic cautionary tale!
Your initial comment was not at all insufficient 😉 but thank you for the very kind extra words. 🥰
You asked: “ Do we have words in English that end in e but are pronounced with an a? Just curious.”
Here’s one: genre 😉
Thanks for that 😉
🤗
I appreciate this post and your perspective Chandi. I was last in the Cinque Terre in the mid-90s and in 2002 and remember it as that idyllic, quiet coastal dream. I'm sad that it is so overrun (and by Americans, shame on us) and while I'd love to see it again, I think I'll just keep my memories and explore other places in Italy. I lived in Florence for a year and saw much of the country, but not near enough!
I had a similar Cinque Terre experience to yours, Paige, but in 1999. My husband and I stayed late one night in one of the more southerly villages and got locked out of the trail back to our flat in Corniglia. We’re not scofflaws, but we climbed over the gate and made our way back to Corniglia on what had to be the most romantic moonlight walk of our lives—the moonlit sea to our left and the mountains rising up to our right. It is a memory we treasure to this day— along with meeting lovely shopkeepers, drinking the local wine, eating the best pizza marguerita, and renting an apartment frim an older Italuan woman who would was “keeper of the keys”. She walked around the village if Corniglia with a paper bag full of keys. If you could locate her, she would find you rooms in exchange for your passport. At the end of your stay you’d have to walk through the village to find her again, return the keys and retrieve your passport. Absolutely priceless memory!! After reading this article and hearing more than one of my Italy savvy friends, telling me how terribly awful the CT has become, I’d rather not return. However, I will hold onto those wonderful memories from the 1990s.
Great memories 🌟
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Paige, and I am glad you visited the Cinque Terre in the mid-90s! I know what you mean about not seeing enough of Italy. The more we go deep, the more we want to see. I too, want to see more, especially historical sites that I haven't seen yet. But my budget is too low to travel much outside of Florence these days. Hoping that will change!
It's because English speakers are familiar with the word "Terra"; as an alternate word for "earth". derived from Latin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra
Yeah, that's probably it. I was thinking about other Italian locations that end in "e" like Este, which Americans don't call "Esta", or locations that begin with "e" like Empoli, which is not called "Ampoli", so clearly it's possible to do the "e" correctly. You're right, the mind must default to "Terra", even if most Americans these days are not versed in Latin. 😉
Not just Americans (I'm Canadian), terra is word that exists in the vocabulary of many English speakers in expressions like "terra firma" (literally "firm land" meaning dry land as opposed to water). It's also used as the root of many English words like "subterranean" (which comes from the Latin "under earth") or the word "terrarium" (a sealed container with earth and plants as opposed to an aquarium which holds water). Other English words with this root are terrain, extraterrestrial, terrace, terra cotta, territory and terrier.
I understand what you are saying. As an academic who has focused on European history from the ancient world to the Renaissance, and who speaks Italian, I am certainly familiar with the term terra firma. However, it is by no means a common term among students in my classes or clients whose trips I plan. If they default to the word terra, instead of terre, when talking about the Cinque Terre, I believe that for the most part, the word terra would be a subliminal word below their conscious awareness. Unconsciously it would feel more comfortable for them, but many of them would not necessarily know why. Certainly none have ever said to me "Oh, because of terra firma!"
I agree, I don't think it's conscious either. I myself had to think about why I also tend to default to this incorrect pronunciation myself if I'm not thinking about it.
👍 thanks for sharing your thoughts 😉
Thank you so much for this! I first went to Porto Venere (which is weirdly now kind of considered part of Cinque Terre from what I was told) in 1990 when I was just a pup. It made such an impression on me and I wanted to go to Cinque Terre at that time (the proper parts) buta was unable to. Thus it was a "dream" to hike through and I finally did in 2019, yes almost 30 years later. And while I love it (off season) and cherish my time there, it was overcrowded with tourists as you mentioned in your article. Though post covid, even more places are now :( There are so many other amazing options in countries around the world but when people from the US (or elsewhere) are looking, they only find what's been (over)written about. This also happens in America. For example, when I drove across the country I had heard and read so much about Savannah, GA but had never heard of Natchez MI, which quickly became one of my favorite "hidden gems". I think people may have to nomad it for awhile or live in a country and meet other locals or nomads to uncover new places but then if influencers write about those places the same thing will happen :( I love that you requested people who are only interested in travel for their "instagram moments" rethink this. Thank you again for this article!
Thanks for sharing your experiences Kimberly. Wonderful that you visited Porto Venere back in 1990. I'm sorry you didn't make it to the CT on that trip. My mind still struggles to accept that a door has been so firmly shut and locked on the way this location is experienced--a location that had been the same for centuries, and then poof, over the course of a few decades, the experience of it is irrevocably changed.
Yes :( And your appropriate observations (reality) about how the people who live there are so adversely affected. I wonder what the solution may be, like limiting tourism to the entire area, but how? There's a sweet little fishing village near where I live in Northern Portugal and I've visited on several occasions. During the day it can fill up with tourists (though not nearly as many as CT) but in the mornings I experience what you mentioned about the olden days of CT. I get to speak with the locals in Portuguese as everyone sits on their front stoops.
Thank you for writing this. I'm going to send this to clients who think I'm just being grumpy about the Sinky Terra lol.
😆 Glad it’ll be useful for that!
Yeesssss- or si si si!! This. My husband and I stayed for two weeks in Riomaggoire awaiting his graduate program to start 20 years ago. It was quiet and we’d sit outside every night and toast the sunset. No crowds. Easy trains. This was in September though…
Two years ago we stayed in Manarola for a few nights with our three kids. I was appalled at the number of selfies on the trail and generally the number of American tourists. I asked the shopkeeper how he managed to stay so nice - I wanted to apologize for all of us. The selfie thing is generally obnoxious and limited to younger people. Sorry, younger people. I have one too. But I’m dying at the conversation you overheard 😅. Jump off rocks? Those rocks are literally everywhere, including France.
Hi Jen, thanks for sharing your experience. I have asked shop owners similar things. I recount an instance in my memoir when I was surprised by a young guy's response in a bakery. It was 2009. I was on a solo walk on Italy's pilgrimage route and took a detour to the CT. It was a lot more crowded than I'd ever seen it. I thought the guy was going to agree with me, about my concerns, but he said he didn't care because the money was good.
Well that is a lot of why they put up with it I’m sure. They just make a lot during the summer and hopefully get to relax a bit in winter. Same for me where I live (we are not making money off tourists but our summers here get so crowded on the weekends). I’m in Colorado.
Sooner or later, people have to stop using TikTok as their primary source of travel information-- it's reducing the whole of the Mediterranean to a place where you sip a spritz and shoot a photo. When I'm in Rome or Florence, I keep thinking that Italy is absolutely maxed-out on tourism. But then when I go just outside to Tuscia, Umbria, Marche and other places I realize that there are literally thousands of incredible locations to see that are almost empty, even in high season. Somehow, the country has to find a way to spread these visitors out into regions and towns that have just as much to offer as the major tourist centers. As you so aptly explained: there are other beaches with sea and rocks to swim from.
Absolutely! Yes, it is almost comical that we need to explain to people heading to Italy that there are other places with sea and rocks to swim from!
Rick Steves, please stop! Take five years off and then consider retiring!!
Sigh. Yeah, it's a quandary. Because I do appreciate his philosophy and his statement that travel is a political act. He believes, as I do, that in-depth, thoughtful travel increases tolerance and cross-cultural understanding. But, at the same time, it was his promotion of the CT that had the largest impact on causing the masses to go there.
I may be guilty of having pronounced an “a” instead of “e” on the word Terre, and I hope to be forgiven if so. I did tour the villages, but with a small responsible tour group that stayed in Lerici, and we also visited and learned about the other villages in the area, including parts of Lunigiana just next door. I can see the day arriving when it will be necessary to limit the numbers of visitors to the villages, especially day trippers and cruise passengers. Only a few miles away are deserted castles in hilltop villages, and peaceful chestnut forests to hike.
Awww, your comment made me smile. You are forgiven. And now you get to practice the "e" at the ends of all Italian words! Fun homework, right? 😄
The tour you were part of does indeed sound responsible and conscientious. The cruises have got to go. Total menace.
Glad you saw Lerici and the Lunigiana. I walked through the Lunigiana on my pilgrimage. A very interesting area full of WWII history. You might enjoy my book!
Selfie tourism is a scourge which is why I don’t share my favorite places in Rome 😬
Yes, perfect word for it!
I loved this post, Chandi, and I look forward to future ones in this series! Perhaps you’d be interested in some insights on Bologna, which in my born-and-raised local opinion is currently the fastest booming destination for American tourists to Italy (alongside Puglia and maybe Basilicata). When I first lived in the US in 2010, no one had heard the name; now it’s routinely on honeymooners’ list, and the New York Times travel section mentions Bologna or Emilia-Romagna once a month.
An aside: I spent the last couple of days looking into agriturismi for a getaway with my boyfriend at the end of August when we’re in Italy. I’ve noticed for most places, their costlier room options are all sold out, while cheaper rooms remain available. That struck me because it’s usually the other way around. The only way I can explain it is that USD-carrying holidaymakers cannot believe how relatively inexpensive a superior suite can be in Italy when the same in the US would run for hundreds if not thousands of dollars a night. There is no way hotel suites would sell out with Italian vacationers.
Ciao Enrica! Thanks for sharing about Bologna. Gawd, people you met in the US in 2010 had not heard of Bologna? Wow! 😲 It's the location of the oldest university in Europe! In my opinion it should be commonly known as part of a good liberal arts education, but I guess most people don't care about that anymore.
Where in Italy are you going for your agriturismo getaway?
I’ve only walked le Cinque Terre during the off seasons and have been lucky enough to have done so before these recent years of crushing crowds. As it is simple to take the train there from Lucca, I’ve taken many friends over the years to hike those craggy hillsides and marvel at the colorful villages, the panoramic vistas, and the tiny vineyards tucked into surprising spaces. You’ve made so many thoughtful points Chandi… much to ponder.
As for pronunciation of “the chinka terra”, that Italian “e” sound is very difficult for English speakers, particularly at the end of a word. We have many words ending in “a”, many of them Spanish or Italian words such as plaza or pizza. But I cannot think of any word we use with the Italian “e” sound, can you? Shoot, I cannot even say my last name properly in Italian, and it IS Italian! lol
Ciao Noreen, yes, we are both lucky to have spent time there in pre-over-tourism days. I think you may be too self-deprecating about your pronunciation of your last name. I believe you say it perfectly 😉 Thanks for weighing in though, about the "E". With Italian words that begin with "E", such as the locations of Empoli, or Este, it is curious because Americans don't turn those "Es" into "As". They don't say Asta, or Ampoli. And with the ending of Este, they don't say Esta... so I still can't figure it out. 🤷♀️