From this point, I took a train from Torino, in the North of Italy, near the ALPS, to the CINQUE TERRA (five lands) built into the cliffs along the Tyrranean Sea. They have been fishing villages for thousands of years. The buildings are very colorful, and the people are still making their living by fishing. EVERYONE has a garden. Some are school gardens, some are community gardens, some are home gardens; BUT everyone eats from the Earth! The roads are very narrow, cars are not allowed in these 5 villages. People hang their laundry outside their windows. Actually, no-one has a clothes dryer...in the 11 days I have been here, there are no clothes dryers except the air. All the churches that I have seen are Catholic and there are many that have been here for hundreds of years. The churches that are in these photos are from the 1500's. Many of the buildings are built like castles and the walls are over 16 inches thick. They do not have air conditioning because the thickness of the walls keep the inside cool. In many homes in the winter, they build fires and live by the heat of wood stoves. Children go to school from 8:30am-12:30 three days a week and 9am-1:30pm 2 days a week. They do not eat breakfast or lunch at school. The main meal in an Italian family is in the middle of the day...the parents come home, cook and eat a big family meal, then go back to work at 4:30pm, work a few hours, then come home at 6pm...only snacks and family time after that.
Narrow streets, people mostly ride bikes or scooters
 |
| Home Garden |
 |
| Community Garden |
 |
| Community Garden |
 |
| School Garden |
Elementary School Library
Elementary School Library
Elementary School
Elementary School Play Yard
Elementary School Building
It's a sunny afternoon a thousand years ago in the Cinque Terre (CHINK-weh TAY-reh), long before it became the Italian Riviera. This string of humble villages, surrounded by terraced vineyards, is a two-day sail from Genoa.
The leathery old farmer, taking a break from tending his grape vines, picks a cactus fruit to quench his thirst. Suddenly howls come from the crude stony tower crowning a bluff that marks his village of Vernazza. Turkish pirates are attacking.
Avoiding powerhouse cities like nearby Genoa and Pisa, pirates delight in the villages. These Cinque Terre towns, famous since Roman times for their white wine, are like snack time for rampaging pirates. Villagers run for cover down corridors buried deep in the clutter of homes that clog Vernazza's ravine.
A thousand years later, another leathery grape-picker is startled by the roar of a smoke-billowing train. Emerging from the newly built tunnel, it flies a red, white and green flag. It's 1870 and the feudal and fragmented land of Italy is finally united. This first Italian train line, an engineering triumph of fledgling Italy, laced together Turin, Genoa, Rome...and, by chance, tiny Vernazza.
Decades later, in the 1930s, an Italian dictator named Mussolini teams up with a German tyrant named Adolf Hitler. The war they started is going badly. In 1943 the German Führer calls on Vernazza's teenage boys to report for duty. The boys, who are assured they'll only work in German farms and factories, know they'll end up as fodder on the front. Rather than dying for Hitler, they become resistance fighters. Running through the night, they climb the ancient terraces like giant stairsteps into the hills high above the village cemetery.
 |
| Above is a little history on the Cinque Terra |
One of the "5 lands" built in the rocky cliffs along the Tyrrannean Sea
These towns are all Fishing villages
Buornjiorno, (I think I spell this differently each time that I write it...ha-ha!) During the first several several days, I observed people of all countries dancing and singing together.
There was much communication among people about how they grew their food, how they raised their animals, and what kinds of food were eaten by different cultures. These photos show how the people of Italy sell their pig meat (they hang it by the leg of the pig right in their shops). Also, the people of Italy tie (with twine) their cherry tomatoes together and sell them bunched like this. Most people who live on and around farms (and there are many!) eat only the food of the season. So now in November, when tomatoes are not growing, they eat their pasta with vegetables and olive oil). There is no canned spaghetti sauce here!
I apologize to all of you for the inconsistent formatting. It takes time to figure it out and every time I am on the computer, it seems that I have little time. Love to all.
