Corniglia

Corniglia is the only village that does not meet the sea. It sits a hundred metres up on a rocky promontory, reached from the station by the Lardarina: a zig-zag of 382 steps in thirty-three flights. Its name is Roman, from the Cornelia family who once held this land.

Ringed by terraced vineyards, Corniglia feels more like a hill town than a coastal one — low, wide houses, narrow lanes, and the Gothic-Baroque church of San Pietro at its heart. The fewest people live here, and that is its gift: stillness.