Manarola, a fraction of Riomaggiore, together with Corniglia, is one of the smallest villages of the Cinque Terre. It is the second of the Cinque Terre, starting from La Spezia, and is connected to Riomaggiore with one of Europe's most famous trails: the Way of Love. (The path
has been closed for years due to a landslide. Only the first 200 meters from Manarola have been opened).
This village is famous because 300 producers from the area bring their crops here to produce the Cinque Terre DOC or the typical local wine, the Sciacchetrá.
Since 1961, Manarola is also famous for its luminous nativity scene, the largest in the world. The characters are handcrafted by Mario Andreoli using recycled materials and are then illuminated with thousands of light bulbs.
Another peculiarity of the village is that, scattered through the city's narrow streets. You can find "parked" many colorful boats between bars and restaurants.
A curiosity of Manarola is a white-painted concrete pyramid, which stands out among the tallest houses. This represents a trigonometric signal for mariners.
The Cinque Terre, along with Porto Venere, the Palmaria, Tino, and Tinetto, is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They do not need advertising as they are well known worldwide and the flagship of Italian tourism.
Just think that these areas, which remained isolated until the end of the 19th century, today have to deal with essential tourist flows that exceed 3 million visitors every year; I have never seen, in any other place I have visited so far, so many people of different nationalities around our beautiful country.
Manarola also overlooks the sea and can be reached by car, train, boat, or boat. My various approaches to the Cinque Terre have been exclusively by train. I never give up the car as a means of transport, but given the difficulty in parking, the train becomes an essential convenience to move freely.
I recommend that you park your car comfortably in La Spezia, the station car park, and quickly reach this beautiful area with a single-day ticket designed to freely get on and off the train for the entire Cinque Terre route. In this way, you will be free to choose what to visit, how long to stop, and in which direction to go to discover all five villages. Do not miss a single one; they're one more beautiful than the other.
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