Cinque Terre National Park

The Cinque Terre is scattered along the long and enchanting coastline of the western Apennine Peninsula, with romantic and dazzling blue waters, pebble-like white sandy beaches, and colorful beautiful houses... This place is the largest sanctuary in the Mediterranean basin. Known as the 'Garden of Eden on the cliffs' for its blue waters on one side and steep cliffs on the other, the Cinque Terre is also renowned for its unique charm! What's wonderful is that there are five different ways to enjoy each of the villages— Manarola, the most beautiful sunset in 'Poet's Bay' The Cinque Terre is located on the western coastal region of the Province of La Spezia in the Liguria region of Italy. The Cinque Terre refers to the collective name for the five cliffside villages of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The Cinque Terre is most famous for a globally popular photograph—a sunset that lights up the entire cliffside villages with twinkling lights. Because of this photo, known as 'the world's most beautiful sunset,' countless travel enthusiasts travel thousands of miles to take the same picture, and we are no exception. To better choose the shooting angle, we stayed in Manarola. The houses in Manarola are very vibrant: the doors and windows are generally green or blue to harmonize with the sea, sky, and green trees; the houses are usually painted in light yellow or pink, with yellow always paired with dark brown, creating a successful design and treatment of contrasting and analogous colors. It seems that the people of the Cinque Terre are all successful color coordinators. Why do fishermen paint their houses with such bright colors? After asking around, we learned that there is a romantic and warm secret behind it. It turns out that whenever fishermen leave their homes to fish in the vast sea, the color of their homes on the cliffside disappears. In order to see their homes from afar when they return full of catch, local fishermen began to paint their houses with colorful paint, and gradually, the colorful Cinque Terre was formed. These antique and romantic colors were deeply loved by poets such as Shelley, Byron, George Sand, and Lawrence. Many poets and artists have come to the Cinque Terre to find inspiration and sources for their artistic creations, earning it the reputation of 'Poet's Bay'.