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For the full experience, take the regional train rather than the express: this stops at all five Cinque Terre villages – Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore – allowing passengers to hop off, hike between villages, and hop back on a train again.

Several of the routes are temporarily closed, such as the main section of Riomaggiore to Manarola, and Manarola to Corniglia.

The 2.4 million annual visitors are stultifying Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso, which cumulatively support about 4,000 residents.

From there, I took the train to Corniglia and climbed 300-plus steps from the station to the cliff top village’s warren of cobblestone alleys.

Then, under gray skies, I began hiking the high-altitude trail from Corniglia to Manarola.