Hands up who loves Italian food – I know there are a lot of us out there! And I’m guessing there’s nearly as many that love fresh-off-the-boat seafood, a doughy warm slice of foccacia bread, or a lemony-sweet gelato. I was able to taste all of these and more in my four days in the Cinque Terre – here’s my favourite spots!
Manarola
Kicking it off with the most important meal of the day – breakfast! As someone who’s lactose-intolerant, sweet breakfasts often don’t cater for me. That’s why I was beyond stoked to discover Manarola’s Gelateria 5 Terre. It’s the home of delicious, amazing dairy-free ice-cream, but has so much more, like smoothies, crepes, and cannoli. It’s also great for gluten-free peeps, and located near the port towards the bottom of the village. Perfect for picking up something to have down by the water while you admire Manarola’s beautiful views.
And moving straight on to the delicious seafood. In Europe, I made a point of eating as much of it as possible when I was by the coast, and the Cinque Terre absolutely didn’t disappoint. This delicious pile of prawns, cockles and mussels was from Il Porticciolo, where we sat in the sun and enjoyed a late lunch on our first day.
Excuse the lighting from Trattoria La Scogliera but don’t let it put you off the seafood here. The mussels were enough to convince Joe that he did in fact like them after a lifetime of avoidance, and my fish pasta was both light and mouthwatering.
We also dined at Trattoria Billy one night as I had read nothing but rave reviews. The mussels also were delicious but the ambience and service were both a bit off – perhaps it was because we’d heard so many amazing things, but unfortunately I preferred the others a lot more.
Bread might not be a food group but it’s the perfect fuel when you’re spending days winding up and down the steep hiking trails of the Cinque Terre. My favourite foccacia were from Pan & Pumante and Il Discovolo in Manarola, but honestly I think it would be hard to go wrong! The second picture is taken at the best hidden spot to sit and watch the town. If you’re visiting, you might read lots about the bar and restaurant Nessun Dorma, perched on the hilltop overlooking the bay. While we were there, long lines to get in seemed near constant. If you’re after the views without the wait (or pricetag), just walk up the hill a little and around the corner – you’ll find this picnic spot that’s completely free, and you can even enjoy the same tunes!
(The purpose of this picture is almost solely to prove we did some hiking in addition to all the eating!)
Vernazza
We didn’t eat much in Vernazza – the restaurants in the main square and up by the castle were very crowded, and we couldn’t make up our minds between the other spots, so we ended up grabbing takeaways to eat down by the water. I didn’t have many dairy-free options, but luckily this tomato-herb foccacia from Batti Batti hit the spot.
Corniglia
Because when you’re in Italy, there’s no such thing as too much gelato, amirite?! I loved this lemon-basil number from Gelateria Corniglia, but also had no complaints about the plain lemon variety from Alberto Gelateria across the street. Lucky for these two, there’s enough demand for both of them!
I’m not a huge beer drinker, but there was no way I was going past a novelty Cinque Terre brew – even if they were all out of the Corniglia version when I was there. And I actually really liked the Manarola variety, as it wasn’t not too hoppy for me. Of course, the seafood loving just kept rolling at Enoteca Winebar. I stopped almost on a whim, but ended up munching away on these delicious bruschetta and reading my book in the sunshine for ages, in their tiny garden overlooking the sea.
Riomaggiore
I’ve always got to try a specialty if I see one, and these cones of fried seafood were all over the Cinque Terre and particularly in Riomaggiore. I have to say, it wasn’t quite as delicious as I was hoping (rather oily, I guess not such a surprise with fried food), but next time I would try one with fries at the bottom as well as the bits of seafood. And hey, I had that view to enjoy so no complaints!
I rounded off my final night in the Cinque Terre with this seafood feast at Dau Cila. Make sure you book one of the tables on their outside deck so you can watch the colours of Riomaggiore change as the sun sinks. I loved this fresh seafood salad, but was blown away by the squid ink pasta – the perfect foodie end to this fabulous holiday.
Have you visited the Cinque Terre? Are you a seafood fiend like me?
For more from the Cinque Terre, check out Sunset Cruising in the Cinque Terre
Linking up for #WanderfulWednesday with Marcella, Lauren, Van and Isabel – check out their travel link-up and their fantastic blogs using the links!