This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful routes in the Ligurian Levant, it is advisable to do so out of season to avoid the summer tourist crowds, with good hiking shoes and a good supply of water.
Levanto Monterosso
The Levanto Monterosso trail is about 8 km. with an elevation gain of 300 m., which should be covered in four hours but becomes many more because it is impossible not to stop and admire the fantastic panorama that opens before us at every step.
It doesn’t require any special skills, although there are climbs that could be tiring and some stepped descents on steep slopes, I assure you that it is worth it. Try it for yourself.
Levanto and its paths on the cliffs
The path starts from Levanto, you can get there by car or train. If, for reasons logistical, you decide to arrive by car find a large area car park right in front of the station, very convenient since the return at the end of the journey will be made by train.
Leave the station behind you and head towards the sea.
When you have it in front of you and the brackish water will have filled your lungs by now. southbound walk.
You will see in front of you, on the end of the bay, a large villa with blue shutters, impossible not to notice it.
Here below this villa there are porticoes and that’s where our path begins.
Levanto Monterosso trekking – SVA signpost: Green Blue Trail.
Made a few ramps of stairs, I know you start well, you will find yourself in front of the remains of the Castle of Levanto.
Leave the path and skirting the castle you go down towards the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, a Romanesque cathedral in black and white marble. There around it are small streets in the city centre that lead back to back in time, take two steps, you won’t regret it.
But it is time to return to our path.
The bay of Levanto until you see Portofino
You go up, you go up and up again. Impossible not to stop to admire the bay of Levanto seen from above.
But the look goes further, reaches the promontory of Portofino and beyond.
You can see the arch of the Liguria and on the horizon, right in front of us, we notice with wonderful surprise the snowy peaks of the Maritime Alps…
The sea is all one shade of blue… the sun is shining and even though we are at the first of March we start storing jackets.
The route varies continuously, at times it is a flat lane full of cactus plants and green grass, then it gets tougher and we walk on rocks and stones.
We build stone cottages and also very particular dwellings, artistically treated with coloured glass mosaics and strange monstrous figures.
There are points where steep cliffs are sheer to the sea, others where we ford small streams that come down noisy, then change again and we go into a shady patch of holm oaks.
Twisted and solitary maritime pines soar towards the blue sky like silent sentinels, accompanying us all along the path.
We have been on the road since about three hours when we arrive at Punta Mesco. This tip is exactly the extreme edge of the promontory that stretches out towards the open sea.
The descent towards Monterosso
What opens up in front of us is the southern side of the coast, the view ranges from Palmaria, with the islets of Tino and Tinetto, to the Cinque Terre: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza are clearly visible, up to the last of these, which is right below us, Monterosso.
The panorama is wonderful, it leaves you speechless.
Before tackling the Descent towards Monterosso is a must to make a diversion of a few meters to get right at the tip of the promontory where the ruins of the Monastery of Sant’Antonio del Mesco, abandoned around in the early 1600s.
From here the view is even more spectacular: on one side we have the southern coast on the other the northern one.
Right here at the Monastery, with this view, we make a long stop. We would never finish satiate ourselves with this wonder.
The descent towards Monterosso is demanding but it can be done. We move the last steps and we can already hear the sound of the undertow of the sea.
The beach is made of pebbles smoothed by water. Monterosso like all the small villages of the Liguria is overlooked by mountains, the houses with pastel shades are to each other as if to protect themselves, the ways in which they are dividing are narrow, bristling.
The sea is calm and placid and it’s hard to imagine it in a storm, ready to do damage, ready to destroy as he unfortunately did.
We take a tour of the village and then head towards the station. With one euro and ninety cents each, and five minutes by train, we return to Levanto, where we find the cars and the way home.
by Roimax ltd
