Northern Italy: Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence & Tuscany

It was great to be back in Italy! We were here in 2015 for our honeymoon and visited the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Florence, and Venice. Since this blog is about our world trip though, I’m going to share our most recent experience which was Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, and Tuscany.

Italy is a country that has so much to offer. From the colorful coastal towns, to the green rolling hills covered with grape vines, to the historical cities with ruins, churches, gelato, and Italian restaurants . If you are going to Europe for the first time, you can really get an amazing, diverse experience by coming to Italy.

Cinque Terre

People talk about Cinque Terre as one place. It actually consists of 5 different towns though. Cinque Terre literally means “Five Lands”.

Most people come here and pick one town to stay in and spend their days hiking from town to town. The hiking is really the best part about this place. If you come here in the peak of summer like we did, it is best to start your hike early in the morning before the afternoon heat.

Some of the hikes between towns are 2-3 hours while others are half an hour.

We opted for two days of hiking, a boat ride to see all the towns from the water, and lots of afternoon swimming.

Here is a little about each of the five towns.

Vernazza

We chose this town to stay for our visit in an Airbnb. There aren’t really any large hotels here so renting an apartment or a small boutique hotel are your only options. There is one main street leading you directly from the train station to the water.

This town had lots of character and a great ledge to jump into the ocean after long days of hiking.

It also had some amazing restaurants with beautiful views. We dined at Al Costello and it did not disappoint.

You can tell that even despite all the recent tourism here, there is still a small town feel which was amazing. We didn’t realize this restaurant only took cash. Since we were short €50 on our bill, the owners simply told us to come back tomorrow and pay. Didn’t take down any information, just trusted we would come back and pay. It’s so refreshing to see people trusting perfect strangers like this and definitely made an impression on us.

Monterosso

This is the furthest north of the 5 towns. It is the largest and the only town with a large beach. Monterosso has many resorts and larger hotels making it the busiest of all the towns.

We loved grabbing a bottle of wine to drink on the beach and play in the waves after a long day of hiking.

Corniglia

This is the smallest of the towns and is the only one without direct access to the water. Corniglia is situated on top of the hill making it much harder to access. Even taking the train will require you to climb a massive set of 365 stairs to reach the town. Many people like this town for the quieter evenings. And it sure makes for some beautiful pictures being all the way on top of the hill.

Manarola

This is a romantic, colorful town with a small harbor for swimming. This is supposed to be considered one of the most beautiful towns.

Riomaggiore

The furthest south of all the towns, this has a rocky beach for swimming. It is also known for being a bit more industrial than the other towns.

We also visited two other towns that aren’t technically part of Cinque Terre but are very close by.

Portovenere is very similar, but much lesser known than the towns of Cinque Terre. It is considered part of the “Bay of Poets” which consists of three small towns and islands. The colorful buildings were just as beautiful.

There is also a gothic church dating back to 1198, an ancient temple, and Medieval walls. This would be a great place to stay if you are really looking to simply relax with the beauty Cinque Terre has to offer, but want to avoid the crowds.

La Spezia is mostly know by tourists for the train station to access Cinque Terre. It is actually a beautiful city though with plenty of shopping and restaurants.

Pisa

We took a day trip to Pisa for the reason everyone comes here: the Leaning Tower. I will admit I was very skeptical given everything I read before our trip. But I am really happy we came and was much more impressed with Pisa than I thought I would be.

Pisa is actually much bigger of a city than I realized. While the main attraction is the tower, there are tons of shops, markets, and restaurants to keep you busy all day.

Florence

Ah Florence! What a wonderful place. This is one of the only places we’ve already been that we are coming back to during our world trip. (The only other place is Munich for Oktoberfest.)

This walkable, artsy, relaxing, beautiful city is really what I picture when I think of Italy. It’s so easy to stroll around and take in all the amazing Roman statues, stop for a glass of wine and pizza at one of the many outdoor restaurants, people watch, stroll along the river, truly an amazing place.

One of the best things to do here is hike up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset. Bring a bottle of wine and sit on the stairs to watch the city slowly begin to light up for the night.

My favorite place to sit at a restaurant outside and people watch is in Piazza Della Signoria.

There are some amazing Roman statues in this plaza. A lavish palace from the 13th century. And a replica of the Statue of David.

The Ponte Vecchio is a very popular bridge in Florence. While it is inevitably always crowded, it’s neat to walk down and check out the jewelry stores along the way. This is one of the only bridges not blown up during the WWII German retreat.

Florence is known for their leather. If you are in the market for a purse, wallet, belt, or jacket make a stop at Mercato del Pocellino. There are tons of small vendors selling leather products and willing to negotiate.

Make sure to stop by the Fontana del Porcellino and rub the boars nose for good luck.

And of course you have to walk around near the Piazza del Duomo– the symbol of Florence. If for nothing else there are lots of great gelato places nearby. I guess the views are pretty nice too ;).

While we were in Florence there was an annual competition happening between the 4 corners of the city. If you think American football is violent… man oh man. The sport is called Calcio Florentino or Florentine Football and is basically a gladiator sport that’s been played here for centuries. Think rugby + boxing + no rules. Basically try to knock as many members of the other team out so your team has more players on the field.

Seriously check this out: Florentine Football

The last place I want to make mention of is kind of an odd one. Chad and I stumbled across a Scottish pub called Tartan Jock Scottish Pub while we were in Florence for our honeymoon. We made a point to head back and recreate our picture from 3 years ago. Such good memories!

And Molly and I took one we will need to go back and recreate someday 🙂

Tuscany

Tuscany is a large region in the middle of Italy that technically includes Florence. When I think of Tuscany though, I think of rolling green hills with vineyards, olive trees, and wine!

We did a Vespa tour from Florence that allowed us to drive through the rolling hills and visit wineries along the way. Molly and I rode along while Kory and Chad were the drivers.

While these things look easy to drive, I should warn anyone considering this that they are much harder than we expected. We almost lost Chad over the cliff the first time he tried it out.

The region we visited was the Chianti region and boy oh boy did they have some good wine!

The last thing I need to share with you is what no post about Italy should ever go without… THE FOOD! Pasta, pizza, seafood, wine- Italian food never disappoints!