{"id":3222,"date":"2020-06-08T01:32:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T23:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/?p=3222"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:36:07","slug":"corniglia-cinque-terre-satul-cocotzat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/2020\/06\/corniglia-cinque-terre-satul-cocotzat\/","title":{"rendered":"CORNIGLIA, Cinque Terre \u2013 the perched village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Corniglia, the third village in the Cinque Terre, is the smallest of the villages here and the only one that cannot be reached from the sea, being at a height of over 100 meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"corniglia%20seen%20from%20the%20sea_2.JPG\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Boats with\ntourists pass by it and they inform you about this, and you sit and flip a coin\nto decide if you should come here by train or on foot, you take beautiful\npictures from the sea and it never occurs to you that once you decide to come\nto Corniglia, you have to climb hundreds of steps\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I myself decided\nto take the train from Riomaggiore. In a few minutes, I was already there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CORNIGLIA%20poze%20de%20lucru\/to%20corniglia.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The train\npractically leaves you at the foot of the village. You walk a few hundred\nmeters, towards “the stairs!!!”, a good opportunity to remember what you\nread\/learned about Corniglia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is one of the\nrichest villages in history. In 177 BC, the invading Romans came here to show\ntheir power. And, as they had some power, they defeated the Ligurians and took\npossession of the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time of\ndivision came and, after playing “one for me and one for you”, a\nfamily called Cornelia<\/strong> received a\nlarge piece of vineyards here \u2013 hence the name of the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Another source\nsays that the name comes from the Roman colonist Cornelius and his mother,\nCornelia. Whatever, same difference\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The village was\nbuilt around the 11th century. You can still see here the stone houses, something\nthat I think is very cool! Initially, it was wider to the south, but over the\nyears, due to the strong sea waves that hit the shore, the hill changed and\nlandslides happened. So, at present, a single long rock remains, on which the\nvillage sits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CORNIGLIA%20poze%20de%20lucru\/corniglia%20stairs.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m still\nwalking\u2026 And I see some stone stuff in the distance. I realize that these are\nthe famous steps you have to climb to get to the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE STAIRS!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"CORNIGLIA%20poze%20de%20lucru\/corniglia%20stairs_1.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here are the\nhundreds of steps. If you have luggage, turn around while you are still close\nto the train station\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have knee\nproblems or if you feel you cannot take it, better forget about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otherwise, it’s\nwonderful to climb and keep climbing the dizzying zigzag stairway, without\nseeing \u201cthe light at the end of the tunnel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 365 steps<\/strong>, one for each day of the year!!!\nCan I climb one a day, please?…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others say there\nare 377 steps. Oh, couldn’t there be less? J<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CORNIGLIA%20poze%20de%20lucru\/corniglia%20stairs_2.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have to admit that it was\neasier than I imagined to climb them, because they are wide and\u2026 climber-friendly,\nnot like those in the Florence Cathedral or in the Saint Peter\u2019s Basilica in\nRome…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And wait!!! There\nare not 365. I counted 483 steps! (Yes, I’m crazy. I counted them. From the\nfirst stairs to the last step. But I did this on my way down. Because while\nclimbing, I was busy trying to survive\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n