Discover Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre's coastline is steep and dramatic, with cliffs dropping almost directly into the Ligurian Sea and little flat land anywhere along its length. What flat-ish ground exists has been carved by hand into narrow agricultural terraces, held up by dry-stone walls that climb the hillsides in tight, stacked rows -- one of the most extensive hand-built terraced landscapes in Italy.

Small coves and rocky beaches sit beneath most of the villages, with Monterosso's sandy beach the one clear exception. Coastal Mediterranean maquis scrubland covers the steeper, uncultivated slopes between and above the villages, while vineyards and olive groves occupy the terraced ground closer to each settlement.