The people of Cinque Terre, Italy are open-hearted and strong spirited. It’s a little paradise on earth.
I lead the Italy Retreat for Women to live la dolce vita in Cinque Terre, and I must say, it charms all of us every time.
Shockingly, on Tuesday, October 25, mudslides and flash floods turned beautiful Monterosso and Vernazza upside down (along with other towns in southern Liguria and northern Tuscany). Cinque Terre, a World Heritage Site, consists of five pictueresque villages, where annually tens of thousands of tourists hike the connecting trails, and visit the quaint stores, restaurants, and hotels. Even more distressing is the idea that hundreds of the local people are homeless, due to the Cinque Terre Flood.
Before and after photos of Monterosso can be seen in The New York Times in an excellent article, or you can see videos posted in The Telegraph from London.
FOR DONATIONS: The Cinque Terre is very dear to many of us, and if you haven’t been there yet, please do yourself a favor in the future and go! One way to help the people of the Cinque Terre Flood, is to vacation there, once tourist season opens.
The page is in Italian, but just enter your PayPal password, then your donation amount. Please be sure to write the amount using a comma instead of a period. For example, Twenty dollars is written in Italy as 20,00. That is 20 with a comma NOT a period, followed by 2 zeroes. There is some English on this page.
Be sure to click the final donation button at bottom of page after you put your password in for your paypal. You will know you’ve successfully finished when you receive a pop-up donation receipt from the Commune of Monterosso. Several days later, you should receive a thank you email from the Mayor of Monterosso.
Please see Kate’s blog at Little Paradiso. You can view photos of the Cinque Terre Flood devastation. Mud and debris have filled the ground floors, six feet of mud left behind against first floor doors and windows of the buildings.
FOR DONATIONS DIRECTLY TO: Vernazza, the beautiful town next to Monterosso, now reminds me somewhat of Pompeii, with 12 feet of mud filling their stores. Rick Steve’s has a slideshow on his site that is heartbreaking to watch, but maybe if more of the world sees this, they will rise to the occasion to help bring back this delightful town. Donate directly to SAVE VERNAZZA.
Any small donation is hugely appreciated and put to good use, like buying wheelbarrows, gloves and rubber boots.
Photo Credits: After the flood, CNN.com of rubble in Cinque Terre
Photo Credits: Before the flood, Lenora Boyle
Learn more about traveling to Italy on Lenora’s Italy Retreats For Women
Find out more about Lenora’s Sweet Life Workshops and Sweet Life Happiness Coaching.
You are welcome to reprint, copy, or distribute Lenora Boyle’s article, provided author credit is included.