If you landed on our website www.outoftheboxflorence.com it is because you love nature, wine tasting, beer tasting, hiking, trekking, unique, special places and out of the box experiences in Tuscany, Florence and the Cinque Terre.
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/
The beautiful, enchanting villages along the Italian Riviera. The Cinque Terre.
This world-renowned destination in Italy has more to show than just these 5 villages. They are a unique UNESCO site and one of the most important National Parks in Italy for its biodiversity of flora and fauna.
The villages nested in dramatic steep valleys transformed this National park into a fragile little wonderland with benefits for the local economy but also a massive pressure on the ecosystem.
Cruise ships and large groups of tourists are invading the tiny streets of the villages ignoring the most important part of all, the nature surrounding them.
What you can find in the Cinque Terre is unique and magnificent at the same time but also very fragile if it is not handled with care.
Thanks to millions of tourists visiting the villages from the early 2000s, they have discovered a new Renaissance.
Places that years before have seen their population to decrease dramatically, thanks to Tourism they have seen young people coming back and working regularly in the villages with an incredible entrepreneur attitude to open bars, restaurants, cafes, shops etc.
In the autumn 2011 the Nature reminded them that where they work and live it’s a very fragile place, water can ruin their lives anytime and without warning. A massive amount of water came down and took some lives away but within record time the villages were fixed and life turned to normal again or the new normality.
Since then many works took place to fix the famous terraces and prevent more landslides and floods. This year thanks to COVID-19 they managed with calm and no people to reopen all the paths that have been closed for a long time apart from the famous lovers lane that still needs more maintenance and maybe one day it will reopen.
We are focused on the hiking aspects of the Cinque Terre discovery. So here’s you see the maps of the hikes/paths you can find there.
There are many and now they are almost all reopened thanks even to the great Ultra trail race “Sciacchetrail”, 46 km and 2.500 mt elevation gained, one of the most popular trail races of Italy( where of course I participated and I will do it again). Incredible views and wilderness all the way through the race. https://www.sciacchetrail.com/
Only negative but fun part of the race is STEPS. They are literally everywhere.
The only way known by people in the past was to go straight up and so you need steps. Be prepared to hike but also to take steps, up and down. They are good for the heart and glutens 🙂
People normally hike the sentiero azzurro, blu path, it’s the one along the coast and less elevation gained of them all. The other hikes require always more effort to enjoy quietness and peace.
If everyone stays low, you have to go higher and your eyes and heart will be thrilled about it. Views are stunning and much more quiet than the busy villages.
Hiking in the Cinque Terre can be dangerous with weather alerts and heat but if you respect yourself and stay within your limits you will be fine.
Hiking in the Cinque Terre is for those who love nature and life at the same time. You hike for a few kilometers and then you stop in town for a drink or shopping and then carry on the next hike.
People always link Cinque Terre and sea but actually you have much more mountains than you expect. Cinque Terre is a National Park, protected even on the marine side where whales and dolphins can be spotted.
After many years taking clients there, it is always frustrating to reduce everything to just those 5 villages.
They have mountains, paths, hikes, wildlife and much more.
Exploring Cinque Terre by foot and stopping in their micro vineries is another amazing thing to do. There are only a few producers of their incredible white wine called, like their National Park, Cinque Terre DOC.
Their special wine here is called Sciacchetrà, a nectar for your palate and one of the most important desert sweet wines of italy.
You must try Sciacchetrà before you leave this place cause it is almost impossible to find anywhere else.
Go for a hike and drink some good wine in the Cinque Terre and your day it will be magic.
