I was in Vernazza last May, updating my Italy guidebook. At 10 p.m. one night, after a long day of research, I enjoyed wandering through this magical town, playing with my iPhone video camera. I never could have imagined that the street I was walking on would, just a few months later, be under 6 to 12 feet of mud and rocks. At the end of my stroll, Chef Claudio at Gambero Rosso joins me in marveling at how Vernazza is indeed “molto bella.” Then he says ciao and grazie…sending his best wishes to all the Americans who keep this town employed. As the rubble from last week’s heartbreaking disaster is being cleared away, we look forward to doing that again. Learn more at www.ricksteves.com/news.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
(Do vino much..?)
Wonderful ambiance at night…I will definitely keep Vernazza and Monterosso in my prayers.
It’s especially poignant to imagine a place you liked very much now buried under a sea of mud. Often the most attention and help is lavished upon the once most beautiful places which are now temporarily tarnished, especially if they have a celebrity sponsor. But Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Rick Steves do a lot to help focus attention on places needing help. Some of them need help more than others but because they do not attract the glitterati they don’t get the press and the money from well-heeled travelers.