cinque terre

the highlight of our 2-week trip in italy was cinque terre. built into the cliffs along the ligurian coast, the 5 towns that comprise the cinque terre aren't just postcard villages dependent on tourism, they're real, wine-growing and fishing communities.


some highlights: "trofie" with pesto genovese (below left), and seafood pasta (right), and (further below) a classic ligurian dish of layered seafood called "cappun magru," which is also the name of the restaurant itself... "cappun magru in casa di marin" is in groppo, a 30 minute hike up from manarola, where we stayed. our server christiane gave us such knowledgeable and thoughtful advice on wine, and the vino da tavola by carlaz was the most interesting vermentino i've ever tasted. i do think ligurian wines are under-appreciated. the 5 terre wine cooperative sold some very reasonably-priced, good wines, and i'm really regretting not buying a bottle of the local dessert wine, sciachettra!

we enjoyed hiking up to volastra and corniglia, and on to vernazza. the views of the vineyards and ocean from the hills were fantastic. but nothing beat the view from our b&b, la torretta, in manarola. i sat on the terrace for hours, watching the sun settle into the mediterranean, trying to burn the image into my mind so i could revisit it when things get tough at work.