Beach Life: the bare necessities by Adele Evans, The Sunday Times 2009

The Italians invented the word Riviera, meaning ‘shore’, by which the coast from La Spezia to Cannes is popularly known.  Romantics should avoid the oligarch-ogling environs of the French extreme and head east to Liguria’s Riviera del Levante – the land of the rising sun.

Five villages known as the Cinque Terre sit along this rugged coast line, declared a World Heritage site by Unesco in 1997. The mountainous shore was once a sanctuary from pirates and the area is largely accessed by sea and spectacular coastal paths.

The Via dell’Amore (path of love), linking Manarola and Riomaggiore, looks down upon coves and rocks that are perfect for sun lovers who want to avoid tan lines.  The largest stretch of pebbly sand is at Monterosso, the western gateway, set among terraced hills cloaked with vines and olive trees.  To the east, at Portovenere, there is a grotto named after Lord Byron, who described the Cinque Terre as paradise on earth.