Cinque Terre: the 5 pearls of the Italian Riviera

For the luxury-minded traveler, Cinque Terra is the gift to yourself that never stops giving. It will provide you with a lifetime of memories that, because of the unusual scenic treasures, will stand out from the other trips you have taken in your lifetime.

It is both a National Park as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site. A masterpiece of coastal beauty, it shares words like insanely picturesque, deeply colorful and wildly natural all at the same time. Recently, it has been named the “Cinque Terre Riviera.”

Located on the Ligurian coastline west of Spezia in Northern Italy, it is easy to get there by train (visit the TrenItalia website) from any of the larger cities in Italy.

“Cinque Terre” translates to “Five Lands” in English. It is a string of five ancient seaside villages that were built along the coastal cliffs to keep watch for marauding pirates. The pirates were regular intruders from the 1100’s and forward for several…