It’s Police Yearbook Season in Italy

In many Italian small towns, each spring a policeman drops by your place of business and asks you, Girl Scout–cookie style, if you want to support them by buying their yearbook. But the consequences of not supporting your local police force is much more severe than blowing off that Girl Scout. If you look, most bars, cafes, and shops display the town police yearbook — they even come equipped with little loops for easy display. Locals say no one ever read one. You could say it’s just good for business.

 

 

 

Vernazza’s Permitted Pastels

Italian towns don’t look so cute by accident. These days you can’t just paint your house without dropping by the City Hall and seeing which pastel colors are allowed. Here in Vernazza, the choices are clear…and limited.

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A Brief Guided Tour of the Dolce Misto in Monterosso

A ritual for me in the Cinque Terre is to dine at my favorite restaurant in the region, Miky, in Monterosso. And each extravagant meal is capped with a suitably extravagant dessert mixed plate. I enjoy a tour of my enticing plate from the chef’s daughter, Sara. Today, with this meal and the women of  Rebuild Monterosso we fatten up just a bit to celebrate the opening of the trails of the Cinque Terre after the flood of 2011.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

Pulling Into Corniglia

This video may seem like not much, but if you’ve been to the Cinque Terre you know the thrill of going through the black train tunnel, gazing into the darkness, waiting for the colorful glory of the Riviera to blast into view. The chugging rhythm of the rails, the dank smell of the tunnels, the playfully meandering white line on the tunnel wall — and the ear-splitting but strangely happy screech of the train as it lumbers to a halt in your own little chunk of Mediterranean paradise — are all part of the ritual of a holiday in Italy’s Cinque Terre.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

Piano, Piano: Gauging Progress as Vernazza Digs Out

Vernazza was pummeled almost to death by a violent flood that followed a freak rainstorm on October 25, 2011. While the bottom of town is springing back to life, the top of the town is still pretty desolate. A stroll among the ruins gives a sense of the power of that terrifying deluge.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.