Cinque Terre: Manarola dry-stone walls

We climb up towards the magic world of the Cinque Terre dry-stone walls, travelling on a small tottering chair that faces significant inclinations. On the way, we are rewarded by the panorama of Manarola, a meeting between hills and sea.

This territory has been cultivated since the year 1,000, but it was abandoned during the 1970s. Because the work is hard and local people chose – as soon as it was possible – different jobs and careers that were certainly less fatiguing.

Recently, however, a Cooperative came into being and started to revive agriculture in the area, thus creating economic activities and consequently jobs. Agriculture, conservation of the territory, landscape and tourism created a virtous circle, with the promotion of cultural initiatives like agriculture courses and tasting of local products.

In addition to the other projects, there is also the desire to create a wine route, replanting the autochthonous vines that disappeared after the abandonment of the territory: a real recovery of the past through flavours. Conservation of the territory requires an enormous effort, considering the record figure of 6,700 km of dry-stone walls in Cinque Terre, a length equal to the Great Wall of China!

 

⇒ Watch the full web serie “Cinque Terre NP Slow Tour”

Cover Pic courtesy of  Flickr User Chris Muenzer