If you're like me, you have spoken to a great many friends on their eve of a trip to Italy, who have made a point of saying that they would include the "Cinque Terre" in their itinerary. And when you have asked them why they were planning a detour to these out-of-the-way, cliffside towns on the northwest coast of Italy, they have responded somewhat sheepishly that the Cinque Terre were recommended by a television personality. To which you have then attempted to discourage them from this choice, but to no avail.
And almost always, the same friends have returned from that trip, totally deflated and sorrowful that they devoted time to these oddly-named, unimportant towns of Italy. And with effort, you have stopped yourself from saying, "I told you so".
The Cinque Terre are five well-preserved, ancient towns of Italy, of no real historical or cultural significance (other than as refuges from military marauders). They have neither important museums, nor great works of art, nor monuments of major events, nor hardly anything of the significance that normally dictates your choice of visits in that colorful nation. Compared with Florence or Siena or Pisa or Florence, or a half-dozen other nearby cities, they are disappointingly unimportant. They have simply been hyped to death by a TV personality.
And even to the extent that they are picturesque and with striking seaside views, those attributes have been demolished by the hordes of tourists that now cover the streets and alleys of the five towns. So many tourists now descend from trains and boats throughout the year on the Cinque Terre that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the visitors from the residents, the streets from the crowds. Times Square on New Year's Eve is a likely analogy. With effort, you now sometimes walk down a street; with effort, you push into a cafe for a cup of coffee.
The crowds of tourists enveloping these towns are so immense that the city fathers have recently announced they will be issuing tickets to persons wanting to visit; without a ticket, you will not be allowed to enter. The effort is to reduce by one or two million visitors the numbers of onlookers who now descend the narrow streets. Whether the reduction in tourism brought about by the limited issuance of tickets, will reduce the onslaught, is not yet definite. Certainly, it will be difficult for the tourist authorities to prevent commercial tour companies from pouring additional groups, additional trainloads, onto the five towns.
What is certain is that far too many people are now descending onto the Cinque Terre. Their arrival has erased whatever quaintness these towns once possessed. You would be better off eliminating the over-hyped "attraction" from your plans.
(Photo credit: Riccardo de Luca)