Recovery of agricultural terraces in the Cinque Terre area

With the beginning of the touristic season the recovery of the two most intensively cultivated hills in our area have been completed. These two hills are the Costa della Posa e Valle dei Pozzi, where in the early eighties were installed the first two monorails of Cinque Terre.
They are two beautiful hills that form a natural amphitheater characterized by the famous agricultural terraces of the Cinque Terre supported by hundreds of stone walls that have been built to support this steep land that from a height of about 400 meters slops down to the sea.
The recovery has been made on part of the 586 trail that from Volastra reaches Case Pianca and continues down to Corniglia on the 587 trail. This project consisted in the rebuilding of ruined stone-walls that support path 586, the lower path of half coast and the stone stairs that connect them. This has allowed to improve access to agricultural land for the winemakers of the area and to facilitate the transit of thousands of tourists that every year pass through path 586 that links Volastra to Corniglia, that due to the continued closure of the coastal trail of the so-called Sentiero Azzuro between Manarola and Corniglia has become the main walking trail.
The work was mainly financed by the municipality of Riomaggiore thanks to regional contributions given for the recovery of agricultural land and partly financed by the National Park of Cinque Terre. But the idea itself and its relative project came from the association of small winemakers of the Cinque Terre that has managed to raise awareness among local authorities on a fundamental issue such as the maintenance of the area and the recovery of its culture and local traditions.
This project is a perfect example of the necessary balance between the influx of tourists on one side and the local agriculture on the other side. In fact this recovery represents the perfect solution to stop hydrogeological instability that has occurred due to the abandoned cultivations. Nowadays the development of the local economy with the sale of our prestigious and famous wine represents a further lure for tourists that each year remain fascinated by the beauty and the uniqueness of this landscape changed by the legendary work of man.
Come and see it with your own eyes!