On Living the Luca Life

As a kid from Los Angeles, I feel pretty at home in big cities. New York, Chicago, London, and Rome all have their own features but at the same time, there are certain throughlines that exist in every metropolis. The way people carry themselves, the areas to go to and the ones to avoid, the scams (oh lord, the scams are there and once you’ve seen your first three-card monte, you’ve seen them all), it’s all the same. If there’s one place I’m still finding my sea legs it’s small towns… and if there was one small town to bring me into the fold, I don’t think there was a better choice than Vernazza, Liguria, Italy.

When Cecilia and I planned our vacation, I was keen to hit all the main touristy cities, Rome, Florence, Venice, etc. She, on the other hand, was dead set on a beautiful little seaside town and we settled on one of the five towns of Cinque Terre. Of the five towns, we ended up staying in Vernazza, the 4^th town (going from south to north), and from the moment we stepped off the train there (and waded through the throngs of tourists at the station) my jaw was on the floor. It felt like the first time one goes to Disneyland and steps foot on Main Street. There was a palpable magic in the air of this tiny seaside town.

The town is bisected by the train station with an upper half and a lower half. The upper half is seemingly more full-time residents while the lower half is predominantly tourists. Heading to the lower half the first thing that’s immediately clear is this is no sprawling megalopolis… this town has one street and no cars, no bikes, no skateboards, just walking. Off of this main street are tons of tiny little uneven stone alleys that wind up and around and through the hills. As you continue to the lower half of the town, the road bends to the right and suddenly you’re looking out at one of the most picturesque little harbors you’ve ever seen with brightly colored Ligurian houses towering above. While I haven’t seen the movie, Pixar’s 2021 film Luca is set in a fictional town based on Vernazza.

Each of the five towns of Cinque Terre is only accessible by train, by boat, by car (although each town has only one road that stops at the town entrance), and by hiking trail. We were lucky enough to have time to do two hikes, one to the even smaller town of Corniglia (the least accessible, smallest town, and the only one not built on the water) and the largest of the towns, Monterosso which is known for its sprawling beaches. The hikes were grueling and full of sweating tourists who had no idea what they were getting themselves into…but the views were absolutely breathtaking.

(Corniglia)

(Monterosso Del Mare)

Being a city boy is something central to my identity, but those few days I spent in tiny seaside towns made me think, that maybe life would be a lot simpler as fish fishmonger or purveyor of souvenir trinkets in a sleepy little town.

Have you spent much time in tiny little towns?