Chic Delights: Monterosso

La Spezia, Italy.

I am sharing here with you one of my favourite places in Italy, the Cinque Terre region of Northern Italy. The Italian Riviera along the Mediterranean Sea. It is my favourite because Cinque Terre still maintains its old world charm, it colourful buildings, small town atmosphere, very down to earth and most of all its clean, emerald waters that sparkles like diamonds when hit by the Sun. Visiting here a few years ago was one of my best summer vacation ever. I got sun burnt which has never happened to me since I was a child refusing to come in after swimming in the beach. I will hopefully return to Cinque Terre again.

Views of La Spezia.

The region of Cinque Terre or Five Lands in English are coastal towns located in the Liguria region of Italy. The closest largest city is Milan and also west of La Spezia. In order to discover the Cinque Terre, one can start from La Spezia to join the Boat tours. The town of La Spezia is a charmer in itself. As you can see from the photos above, one can visit the Castle, the church and the colourful buildings are full of Italian Trattorias where one can dine al fresco discovering and savouring the delicious Italian/Ligurian cuisine and wine.

The five towns of Cinque Terre.

The ways to reach Cinque Terre are through a walking pathway overlooking the Mediterranean Sea linking the Five Towns, by car although there are very few roads in the towns, by train and by Ferry. The charm of Cinque Terre is that it is actually not easily accessible unlike in the French Riviera or the beaches of Spain. The most easy way to reach the towns are by ferry or by train.

Hillside Towns and Vineyards in the Cinque Terre.
The locals have worked hard for centuries to tend to their vineyards to produce one of the best Italian wines in the Northern region of Italy. They also produce olives in these terraces.

Typical hillside town in Cinque Terre with its colourful buildings.

Clear, emerald and sparkling waters of Cinque Terre.
The Mediterranean Sea here is just so emerald green and beautiful that I just wanted to dive in!

Arriving at one of the beautiful and inviting beach of Monterosso.

Traditional Italian food in Cinque Terre are composed of abundant seafood, pasta with their famous Ligurian pesto made with basil leaves, olive oil, garlic, salt, pine nuts and pecorino cheese and of course we tried their white wine.
The wine here is superb with a salty taste to it because of the vineyards along the hills are facing the Mediterranean Sea.

So tempting to just dive in!

I envy this cat taking an afternoon nap with a view.

According to the locals, it was a young Italian soldier after WWII that started this tradition of leaving locks to mark the forever love with a partner. Even here in Cinque Terre, they have the Via dell'Amore/The Way of Love to celebrate this tradition. It is a few kilometers walkway overlooking the Mediterranean Sea linking the town of Monterosso to Riomaggiore.