Italy - Corniglia

The Cinque Terreis a string of five old fishing villages perched high on the rugged coastline of the east end of the Italian Riviera in Liguria. Until recently they were linked only by mule tracks and accessible only by rail or water. Nowadays Cinque Terre is a UNESCO Heritage Site. It's also one of the most sought-after travel destinations in all of Italy. The five villages are no longer the isolated hamlets they once were, but there’s still a feeling of authenticity, with few roads and perfectly preserved architecture.

Corniglia is the central village and also the smallest of the Cinque Terre. It is unique compared to the other villages for its position, as it is built on top of a cliff 100 meters above the Mediterranean Sea. That makes the village known as the “Balcony of the Cinque Terre”. N ext to that Corniglia is special because it is the only village of the Cinque Terre where you are not immediately in the middle of the village when you get off the train. Therefore it is a village that many tourists skip.

Artifacts found in Pompeii, have historians dating the origins of Corniglia all the way back to the Roman Age. Markings on terracotta containers have helped them deduce even the origins of the name: the words “Gens Cornelia”, which translates into “from the (Roman) family Cornelia”. It is thought that Coniglia was probably a colony of slaves who took on the name Corenila, from the slaveholder who gave them their freedom.

Corniglia has a long and rich agricultural tradition. The village is surrounded on three sides by vineyards and terraces. Its architecture is closer to that of a rural inland village than that of a coastal village.