Vernazza is an Italian town of 770 inhabitants in the province of
La Spezia in Liguria. Coming from the west, Vernazza is the second
of the towns that make up the Cinque Terre, in a bay between the
towns of Monterosso al Mare and Riomaggiore. It also includes the
subsequent village of Corniglia, its fraction.
Its territory
is also characterized by the typical terraces for the cultivation of
vines, a morphological style which, according to an estimate, is
developed for over 7,000 km of dry stone walls.
The territory
is part of the Cinque Terre national park and the UNESCO site Porto
Venere, Cinque Terre and Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto).
Among the various hiking trails that act as a link between the
Cinque Terre towns, the wooded path (marked with number 507 by the
CAI) crosses the hamlet of Casella - in the municipality of Riccò
del Golfo di Spezia - and the Sella della Cigoletta and connects the
coast with the middle and lower Val di Vara.
The village,
which grew up along the Vernazzola stream (now covered) which
constitutes its central artery, has an exceptionally intact urban
fabric, divided into a series of alleys and steep stairways. Above
the town of Vernazza, at an altitude of 325 meters above sea level,
is the sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Reggio.
Parish church of Santa Margherita d'Antiochia in the capital.
Dedicated to the patroness of the town, it bears witness to the
Antelamic school, which began in 1318. It has three large naves
perfectly preserved inside, an entrance on the side of the apse and the
altar faces east. The tower is set on the apse and is octagonal in
shape, after a double crowning of small arches it has a particular
tapering and ends with an ogival dome.
Church of San Francesco in the
capital. Built in the 17th century for the convent of the Friars Minor
Observant, the deconsecrated church is now the venue for musical and
theatrical performances, and a space for exhibitions. The adjoining
convent complex is instead the seat of the Town Hall. On the right of
the complex, parts of the convent walls are still visible.
Parish
church of San Pietro Apostolo in the hamlet of Corniglia, built in 1354
in the Genoese Gothic style, with later Baroque interventions.
Oratorio dei Disciplinanti di Santa Caterina, in the hamlet of
Corniglia, built in the 18th century.
Shrine of Our Lady of Reggio in
the locality of the same name. The sanctuary can be reached via a paved
path, about 2 km long, which starts from the railway station and reaches
the church square surrounded by ancient trees. Together with the
sanctuary of Our Lady of Montenero in Riomaggiore, the sanctuary of Our
Lady of Health in Manarola, the sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace in
Corniglia and the sanctuary of Our Lady of Soviore in Monterosso al
Mare, the sanctuary is part of the "Sanctuaries of the Cinque Terre".
Shrine of Our Lady of Grace, in the hamlet of San Bernardino,
nineteenth-century adaptation of a chapel of late medieval origin. In
the sanctuary a Madonna and Child is venerated.
Military
architectures
Doria Castle. Its first records date back to the 13th
century, but it is believed that the first nucleus dates back to the
11th century; the cylindrical tower, restored in the twentieth century,
is the oldest part of the fortification.
Belforte bastion. The
medieval bastion, quadrangular in shape, is located just below the Doria
castle, near the mouth of the small port; its construction dates back to
the Genoese domination and was part of the defensive system of the
village.
Watchtower and watchtower, perhaps coeval with the local
castle, near the initial path to Corniglia.
Genoese defensive walls.
They enclosed the village in a wedge; the still residual part of the
fortifications, consisting of sections of the walls and two defense
towers, remained in the highest part of the town.
Rock of the Friar.
Coming from the west, Vernazza is the second of the towns that make
up the Cinque Terre, in a bay between the towns of Monterosso al Mare
and Riomaggiore. It also includes the subsequent village of Corniglia, a
fraction of it.
Its territory is also characterized by the
typical terraces for the cultivation of vines, a morphological style
which, according to one estimate, is developed for over 7,000 km of dry
stone walls.
The territory is part of the Cinque Terre National
Park and the Porto Venere, Cinque Terre and Islands (Palmaria, Tino and
Tinetto) UNESCO site.
Among the various hiking trails that serve
as a link between the Cinque Terre towns, the wooded trail (marked with
number 507 by the CAI) crosses the hamlet of Casella - in the
municipality of Riccò del Golfo di Spezia - and the Sella della
Cigoletta and connects the coast with the middle and lower Val di Vara.
The village, which grew up along the Vernazzola torrent (today
covered) which constitutes its central artery, has an exceptionally
intact urban fabric, articulated in a series of alleys and steep
stairways. Above the town of Vernazza, at an altitude of 325 meters
above sea level, is the sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Reggio.
The origin of the toponym derives from the Latin adjective verna, translatable as "indigenous" or "of the place"
The origin of the toponym derives from the Latin
adjective verna, which can be translated as "indigenous" or "of the
place".
With the reduction of the Saracen threat after the
battle of the year 1016, a first settlement near the marine port of
Vernazza became populated during the 11th century, due to the
arrival of inhabitants of the settlements on the heights around the
sanctuary of Our Lady of Reggio.
The first documented news of
Vernazza, as the first castrum of the Cinque Terre, dates back to an
act of 1080, in which the castrum Vernatio is mentioned as a
maritime base of the Obertenghi. Powerful dynasty of Frankish
origin, the Obertenghi were also lords of Vernazza in the 11th and
12th centuries and most likely made use of its natural landing place
as a naval base both to protect the Levante coast from the raids of
the Saracens and to support the commercial exchanges of the
territory.
It was the marquises themselves who built a first
sighting and defense post in 1056.
With the increase in
commercial traffic and the development of the navy, Vernazza was
within the expansive interests of the Republic of Genoa, which
intended to make it one of its coastal bases for the commercial,
political and above all territorial conquest of the Ligurian Levant.
The natural act of oath and loyalty to Genoa and its Republic
followed, an agreement that was stipulated in 1209 between the
eighty-eight heads of families of the Vernazzese territory.
The thirteenth century saw the settlement of new feudal lords of the
village, first the Da Passano and then, from 1211, the Fieschi.
In 1254 Nicolò Fieschi tried to create his own independent
Lordship from Genoa by bringing together his possessions in the Gulf
of La Spezia, in the Levante coast and in the Val di Vara, but after
a short period of domination over the town he was defeated by Oberto
Doria in 1273 and three years later he was forced to sell all rights
in the area to Genoa.
The Genoese government was aware of the
favorable opportunities connected to the protected conformation of
the Vernazza landing place and, in support of its fight against
Pisa, it ordered the construction of a fortified port for the
landing of the galleys and a yard for their repair, unique case in
the Cinque Terre.
Of the military defense constructions built
by the Genoese, today there are some portions of the walls, a
bastion and the lookout towers over the sea.
The increased
security also favored commercial traffic and the general economic
development of the village. Tall tower-houses, with carved portals
and arcades, testify to the prestige and well-being that Vernazza
enjoyed.
Together with the territory of Riomaggiore, Vernazza
was part, until the fall of the Genoese Republic, of the homonymous
Podesteria, within the Vicariate of the Eastern Riviera established
in La Spezia in the 16th century.
With the Napoleonic
domination, from 2 December 1797 Vernazza returned to the Department
of the Gulf of Venus, with the capital La Spezia, within the
Ligurian Republic. From 28 April 1798, according to other new French
regulations, Vernazza returned to the VIII canton, as the capital,
of the Jurisdiction of the Gulf of Venus. From 1803 it was the main
center of the III canton of the Gulf of Venus in the Jurisdiction of
the Gulf of Venus. Finally, with the annexation of Liguria to the
French Empire, from 13 June 1805 to 1814, Vernazza was included in
the Department of the Apennines.
When Napoleon fell, Liguria
in 1815 entered the Kingdom of Sardinia, and therefore of the
Kingdom of Italy from 1861, and the village of Vernazza was included
in the province of Levante. From 1859 to 1927 the territory was
included in the VI district of Levanto in the Levante district as
part of the province of Genoa at first and then, in 1923, of the new
province of La Spezia. The last adjustments to the municipal area
date back to 1871 with the aggregation of the hamlet of Corniglia
after its detachment from the Riomaggiore area.
The
construction of the Genoa-La Spezia-Pisa railway, between the second
half and the end of the nineteenth century, freed Vernazza and the
Cinque Terre from their historical isolation.
The nineteenth
century was the period that marked a new resumption of economic
activity linked to the production and export of local wine, a trade
that had declined in the seventeenth century (an event that was also
recorded in the other Levantine villages) and still stagnated
throughout the eighteenth century.
At the same time there was
a substantial increase in the population that could not find an
outlet for work in the already overloaded agricultural sector in the
terraces and vineyards, the latter being affected by diseases.
At the beginning of the twentieth century there was therefore a
migratory phenomenon towards neighboring centers and above all
towards the capital of La Spezia due to the job offer that had been
created thanks to the construction of the military arsenal of the
capital.
From 1973 to 31 December 2008 Vernazza was part of the mountain
community of the Riviera Spezzina.
On 25 October 2011 a
violent disturbance struck the Ligurian east (lower and middle val
di Vara, val di Magra and Cinque Terre) and the Lunigiana (province
of Massa-Carrara) with floods, damages, victims and missing in
various localities of the territory Ligurian and Tuscan. Vernazza
was also among the most affected municipalities, where intense
rainfall caused multiple damage to homes and businesses in the
historic center and to railway connections with the stations of
Monterosso (north) and Corniglia (south); the railway station itself
was invaded by mud and debris.
Vernazza was used as a model for the setting of the Pixar film Luca, directed by Enrico Casarosa. It was also one of the proscenium in Come una mamma, a 1990 television miniseries directed by Vittorio Sindoni and starring Stefania Sandrelli, whose character is a native of the village.
Vernazza borders to the north with the municipalities of Pignone,
Beverino and Riccò del Golfo di Spezia, to the south it is bordered by
the Ligurian Sea, to the west with Pignone and Monterosso al Mare and to
the east with Riccò del Golfo di Spezia and Riomaggiore.
The
municipal body is made up of the five hamlets of Corniglia, Drignana,
Muro, Prevo and San Bernardino for a total of 12.3 km².
«Et ibi prope vinum de Vernacia abundanter habetur.» (And near there
the wine of Vernacia is found in abundance.)
(Salimbene de Adam, in
Cronica)
The main economic resources of the Vernazza area are
aimed at agricultural activities and tourism. In the agricultural
sector, the cultivation of olive trees, fruit trees (in particular
lemons) and above all the vine is prized with a moderate production of
local wines and of the Cinque Terre area.
The link between the
village of Vernazza and Vernaccia wine has been ascertained. In fact,
this wine was already well appreciated in the Middle Ages and is
mentioned several times by Boccaccio also in relation to the village of
Corniglia. The production of wine was solely or specifically Ligurian
therefore the very etymology of the word is from Vernaccia, today
Vernazza. Moreover, since the village is mentioned in historical
documents centuries before the wine itself, the contrary hypothesis that
the village took its name from the wine it exported is less credible.
Streets
The territory of Vernazza is crossed by the provincial
road 61, which joins the provincial road 51 to the north; the latter
connects the Vernazzese village by road with the municipalities of
Monterosso al Mare, to the west, and Riomaggiore to the east.
Railways
The municipality of Vernazza has two railway stations: that
of Vernazza and that of Corniglia (serving the homonymous hamlet), both
on the Genoa-Pisa railway line.
Urban mobility
Within the
municipal area there is a local public transport service managed by the
ATC which guarantees daily bus connections.