The literary nature trails of the Eugenio Montale Literary Park

The Eugenio Montale Literary Park

The Parco Letterario® Eugenio Montale, an en plein air space where the literary adjective indicates a widespread and at the same time circumscribed place that covers the entire territory of the Cinque Terre, was born in 2015, in collaboration with Parchi Letterari® Italiani ed Europei.

The Park offers a cycle of walks and excursions marked by verse readings and insights into local nature and history, by the naturalist Carlo Torricelli and the expert of Montale Cristina Currarini.

Parco Letterario® Eugenio Montale
© Archivio Farabola

The literary nature trails of the Eugenio Montale Park are free but reserved for holders of the Cinque Terre Card only. The maximum number of participants is set at 15, and reservations are required by e-mail. Together with the confirmation, you will be sent the Anticovid specification, to be returned by e-mail signed and signed for acceptance.

To participate, you need to wear suitable footwear for walking on trails. We also recommend you read our practical tips for trekking safely and fully enjoying it.

The literary nature trails of the Eugenio Montale Literary Park

  • August 1st at 9:30 am – verses in the shadow of the giant. A walk between the two villas owned by the Montale family, Villa Montale and Villa La Vecchiona, the promontory of Mesco, up to the “Portigiun,” between the places of the poet’s childhood and adolescence. The walk takes about 2 hours and starts from the Park Info Point at the Monterosso station.
  • August 11 at 6:00 pm – from Monterosso to Punta Corcone, listening to the reading and commentary of classic and well-known verses by Montale related to the landscape and the sea, admiring the sunset. The walk takes about 2 hours and starts from the Park Info Point at the Monterosso station.
  • August 12 at 9:30 am – Manarola, between land and sea. A circular route through the small promontory to Punta Bonfiglio, accompanied by the verses of Montale. The walk takes about 2 hours and starts from the Park Info Point at the Manarola station.
  • September 18 at 3:00 pm – the hill harvest, from Volastra to Corniglia. An excursion from the churchyard of the Sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Salute in Volastra to the village of Corniglia, along the panoramic paths 586 and 587. The walk takes about 3 hours and starts from the Info Point of the Park at the Manarola station.
  • September 19 at 9:30 am – a walk between the Capuchin convent and Buranco. From Piazzale Belvedere, the terrace overlooking the sea, the path winds uphill through “the uncles of friars” on the hill of San Cristoforo to the Convent of the Capuchin friars. We will then descends through the ancient Via Buranco to the Church of San Giovanni Battista. The walk takes about 2 hours and starts from the Park Info Point at the Monterosso station.
  • October 23 at 8:30 am – tree, wonderful creature. A walk between the sanctuaries of Nostra Signora di Soviore and Nostra Signora di Reggio, placing the typical trees and the local flora at the center, also of the literary path. The walk takes about 4 hours and starts from the Info Point of the Park at the Monterosso station, from which you will leave for Soviore by bus. The arrival is in Vernazza.

In case of adverse weather conditions, the program could change, and the excursion could also be canceled.

Cinque Terre, a human landscape

Cinque Terre, a human landscape

Cinque Terre are a human landscape, in the sense that if it were for nature here they would be only steep cliffs lashed by the sea and woods upstream.

Man in the Cinque Terre has not only built settlements and then villages but has shaped the landscape by creating the terraces that make this strip of coast so special and identifying.

The permanent exhibition “Cinque Terre, a human landscape”

Throughout August, the Castello di Riomaggiore will be open daily, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m., as a tourist information point, but also and above all as the location of the permanent exhibition Cinque Terre, a human landscape.

Cinque Terre, a human landscape

The exhibition, sponsored by the Municipality of Riomaggiore, was created thanks to the Cinque Terre National Park – Marine Protected Area and the precious work of volunteers.

The project and the exhibition’s texts were curated by Attilio Casavecchia, while the images are by Anselmo Crovara from the Museum of Memory and by Walter Bilotta, who also oversaw the graphic project and Doriano Franceschetti.

Texts and images have been elaborated to disseminate local history and culture, make the Cinque Terre landscape better known, and facilitate its understanding, treating in detail the territory of Riomaggiore.

For those over 12 years old, there is an entrance ticket costing 1 €, while the exhibition is free for children, disabled people, and residents of the Municipality of Riomaggiore.

Un mare di libri in Monterosso

Un mare di libri, Monterosso al Mare

What to do after dinner in Cinque Terre? Among the proposals, if you can read and speak Italian, we recommend Un mare di Libri (i.e. A sea of books) in Monterosso. The fifth edition will see literary appointments both in July, August, and September.

A literary festival made up of meetings with the authors and an exciting dialogue and exchange with the readers, organized by the Municipality of Monterosso al Mare and the Cinque Terre Tourist Consortium, with the support of the Cinque Terre National Park and the San Lorenzo Shipyards and other local sponsors and supporters.

The events are free and reservations are not required. They take place at 9:30 pm at the suggestive Fishermen’s Wharf and in the event of rough sea, they are moved to Piazza Garibaldi, right downtown.

The program of Un mare di libri

Getting to Monterosso

We recommend the train. The regional ones stop at all the stations between La Spezia and Levanto and even if you sleep in Riomaggiore, the most distant of the Cinque Terre from Monterosso, you can be there in a few minutes, returning safely at the end of the event.

For information on timetables and tickets, check our page about Cinque Terre trains.

© Un mare di libri, Monterosso al Mare

For more information, please follow the Facebook page of the event or send them an e-mail.

Superiponti

Superiponti - a photographic itinerary across the bridges of Manarola

Superiponti – a photographic itinerary across the bridges of Manarola

This year the Associazione Culturale Radici choose to retrace the history of Manarola through one of its peculiarities that progress has erased: the bridges. Built along the banks of the  Groppo canal, until a few years ago, the narrow main street intertwined with the course of the canal until it reached its mouth.

Looking for space and for a new, less tiring life, a gradual roofing process emerged, already completed in the village of Riomaggiore. Beginning in the valley in the 1950s and slowly moving up the stream to join at the end of the years ’70 with the main road.

Superiponti, the exposition

Through QR codes, visitors will be able to observe on their device the ancient glimpses of the village and the activities that characterized them: from the grape harvests to the washing of clothes, from transport with mules to the joy of great family events, all through the vision of the many artists who have visited our village.

On the church square, in the Oratory, a photographic exhibition on the subject is open to the public every day from August 29 to September 13, from 4 to 7 pm.

The cultural association Radici

Superiponti is an event organized by the Associazione culturale Radici, which aims to enhance the cultural heritage of the villages of the Cinque Terre, in order to pass on our tradition and soul to future generations; preserve and catalog the existing photographic and historical heritage creating an observatory on the landscape that highlights its transformation over time and allows its conservation.

Live Cinque Terre Music Festival

Live Cinque Terre Music Festival a Riomaggiore

In the second half of August, it will be time for the Live Cinque Terre Music Festival in Riomaggiore: for five consecutive evenings, Piazza del Vignaiolo will host the main entertainment of the Riomaggiore summer.

The lights will turn on again under the starry sky to illuminate a stage full of artists united by the desire to bring music and theater back to the streets of Riomaggiore.

Live Cinque Terre Music Festival

The Live Cinque Terre Music Festival, sponsored by the Municipality of Riomaggiore, is organized by SDG Entertainment in collaboration with Live Cinque Terre and the Riomaior 2019 Soccer Team and follows the artistic direction of Stefano Di Gangi who in past years already had the opportunity to express himself through cultural successful events including Boudoir Circus as part of the 2013 White Night and the unforgettable Briomaggiore, the jazz & music festival with a strong tourist appeal that has rightfully entered the history of the Cinque Terre.

The schedule, designed for a heterogeneous audience of adults and children, will see the participation of an important theater company flanked by local artists, but no less virtuous, who will perform in lyric, pop and light music and blues sounds.

Performances will all be free thanks to the fundamental contribution of many activities in the village that have made this great magic possible.

The Live Cinque Terre Music Festival program

August 19

Tenor Eros Lombardo will open the festival on August 19th at 10:30 pm. He will delight the audience by interpreting Giacomo Puccini’s most classic arias such as E lucevan le stelle from Tosca and Nessun dorma from Turandot.

The musical is a genre that has now entered our DNA and that fascinates all ages: in Riomaggiore it will be staged by the Teatro Giovani Torrita Company presenting three shows.

Le Adorabili Scanzonette, staged by Giulio Benvenuti and directed by Giovanni Giannini, is played by Martina Bardelli, Emma De Nola, Lisa Lucchesi, and Mikela Rebua. Four friends who, through the most famous musical hits of the 50s and 60s, will tell us the dreams, fears, and hopes of a past dear to us all.

Among stolen loves, plots, and skirmishes between friends, we will soon discover that these “Scanzonette” are not so “Adorable”, and above all that, no matter how hard they try, they do not respect the canons of the perfect woman so much told in those years. A fun and interactive show that will leave the audience with a sincere smile.

August 20

The same company, from 9 to 11:30, will propose an enthralling choreographies stage inspired by the famous show “The little shop of horrors” that the participants will then be able to re-propose to the audience the following evening (the stage is aimed at “children” from 0 to 99 years old and costs € 15 Euros per person – to book please phone +39 336 688 6604).

From 9 pm it will then be the turn of Le fiabe di John, the acoustic duo composed by Chiara Galeotti and Francesco Petacco, performing soul, jazz, and blues sounds.

Will you tell me about a fairy tale?, with songs and soundtracks taken from Disney feature films: an evening full of surprises, words, music, and fun for the little ones but above all for the grown-ups who would like to listen once again to the magic of fairy tales.

August 21

At 10:30 pm Kisses from Broadway, a play inspired by the world of overseas musical theater. A Chorus Line, Mamma mia !, Cabaret, Rent, Les miserable, Wiked, Cats, Jekill and Hyde, Chicago… are just some of the titles that the artists on stage will face to offer you entertainment of the highest level.

August 22

The soprano Angela Queni will propose at 10.30 pm an evening entitled “In the imagination, the magic of music” performing famous lyric and pop music pieces.

August 23

At 10:30 pm Cinzia Lombardi will delight us retracing famous songs from the 60s to today, ranging from Mina to the Beatles.

A musical selection by Brux DJ will follow. But don’t be fooled by the word. “No disco. It will be a soft musical entertainment” 😉

Manaèarte, a collective exhibition

Manaèarte, the collective exhibition of the artists of Manarola

Manaèarte is back!

At the Disciplined Oratory in  Manarola, also known as the oratory of the Holy Annunciation, the tradition of Manaèarte is renewed with a collective exhibition presenting and celebrating the artists of Manarola.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 18 at 6 p.m. and will be open daily until July 26, from 4 to 7 p.m. When visiting the exposition you’ll also get to visit the ancient mill!

The oratory, built in the fifteenth century, is located in Piazza Innocenzo IV, the main square in the upper part of Manarola, near the bell tower and the church of San Lorenzo, which we invite you to visit.

  • Manaèarte, the collective exhibition of the artists of Manarola
  • Manaèarte, the collective exhibition of the artists of Manarola
  • Manaèarte, the collective exhibition of the artists of Manarola

The cultural association Radici

Manaèarte is an event organized by the Associazione culturale Radici, which aims to enhance the cultural heritage of the villages of the Cinque Terre, in order to pass on our tradition and soul to future generations; preserve and catalog the existing photographic and historical heritage creating an observatory on the landscape that highlights its transformation over time and allows its conservation.

Festivals and feasts in the Cinque Terre

Santuario di Montenero

We’ve lots of festivals and feasts in the Cinque Terre, including patronal feasts, feasts at the five shrines, festivals, and other events that tell and pass on local traditions or enhance their peculiarities and the environment.

Here’s a short summary, but we will be writing a post about each one of these events.

Luminous nativity scene of Manarola
© Carlo Alberto Conti

Festivities and events in winter in the Cinque Terre

In December the now-famous luminous nativity scene is held in Manarola. A dream that Mario Andreoli has transformed into a project and given to his fellow citizens and the whole world. Over 15 thousand bulbs to give life to the 250 characters of the Hill of Three Crosses. A unique nativity scene, which enchants from the day of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8) until the end of January.

Another decidedly special event is the underwater Christmas of Vernazza, with the birth of Jesus in the waters of the small gulf at the stroke of midnight and Christmas mass to follow.

Moving from the religious to the decidedly sporty, between the end of March and the beginning of April we attend Sciacchetrail,  a trail running race celebrating our precious Sciacchetrà wine. A circuit above and through the five villages and their shrines, 47 km long with 2,600 meters of altitude difference.

In spring

With Easter, the holiday season opens at the Cinque Terre Shrines, while in May the festivals begin.

On the second Sunday of May, the shrine of the Madonna di Reggio in Vernazza celebrates the Christ Feast, with suggestive processions and very specific culinary traditions.

In mid-May Monterosso celebrates lemons, with a festival that colors and perfume the caruggi (narrow local alleys) and squares of the village for a whole weekend. Limoncino, lemon cream, jam, and lemon cake are tasted from one end of the village to the other and events organized until the evening.

  • Festivals in Cinque Terre
  • Festivals in Cinque Terre

In summer

At Corpus Domini in Monterosso, in addition to the Holy Mass and the procession, the inhabitants of the town decorate the streets of the village with the traditional floral display.

Also in June and always in Monterosso we celebrate the fried anchovy festival: the famous Monterosso anchovies are fried in the characteristic iron fish-shaped pan, combined with sgabei (local fried bread) and served with Cinque Terre white wine. Lots of other events are planned on this occasion.

On June 23 and 24, the Patronal Feast of San Giovanni Battista is also celebrated in Monterosso, with the traditional bonfire on the beach on the 23rd, procession, fair, and suggestive floating candles on the 24th.

On June 24, Riomaggiore also celebrates San Giovanni. A traditional procession is planned, often accompanied by a colored chalks street art exhibition by the Madonnari.

On 29 June the patron saint of Corniglia is celebrated as well, with the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. On this occasion religion, tradition, and history meet and mix and the village festival culminates with a typical dessert, the renowned Torta dei Fieschi, in memory of the past dominion of this Genoese family.

On July 7 at the shrine of Soviore in Monterosso there’s the celebration of the Rediscovery of the Pietà.

On July 20 we celebrate Santa Margherita di Antiochia in Vernazza. A procession, banquets in the main street, traditional games for children, music, and fireworks in the evening.

The first Sunday of August always in Vernazza there is a big feast at the Shrine of Our Lady of Reggio.

On 10 August Manarola celebrates the Feast of San Lorenzo, with a procession through the streets of the village, till the holy statue is embarks a fisherman boat!

In autumn

On 8 September in San Bernardino, the hamlet of Corniglia and home of its sanctuary, the feast of Our Lady of Grace is celebrated, also common to the sanctuaries of Soviore and Montenero.

Also in September, Monterosso celebrates the salted anchovy festival, with tastings in the numerous food stalls scattered throughout the village, always accompanied by collateral events guaranteeing special moments.