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Best Things to Do in Piedmont & Liguria (2026 Guide)

Piedmont and Liguria are northwestern Italy's two most rewarding regions for the unhurried traveller. Piedmont, in the alpine foothills west of Milan, is Italy's finest wine region (Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera) and home to Turin, a baroque royal capital with the world's most significant Egyptian museum outside Cairo. Liguria's Riviera di Levante (east of Genoa) has the Cinque Terre's famous painted fishing villages and Portofino's yacht-filled harbour. This guide covers the best things to do in Piedmont and Liguria across their complementary landscapes and cultures.

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The unmissable in Piedmont & Liguria

These are the staple sights — don't leave Piedmont & Liguria without seeing them.

1
Cinque Terre National Park (Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre)
#1 must-see

Cinque Terre National Park (Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre)

📍 La Spezia
🕐 Mon–Sun Open 24h
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2
Riomaggiore
#2 must-see

Riomaggiore

📍 Riomaggiore, La Spezia
🕐 Mon–Sun Open 24h
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3
Vernazza
#3 must-see

Vernazza

📍 Vernazza, La Spezia
🕐 Mon–Sun Open 24h
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Destinations in Piedmont & Liguria

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Ligurian region of northwestern Italy, comprising five fishing…

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Turin

Turin

Turin is Italy's most underappreciated major city — a baroque capital with Europe's second-greatest Egyptian collection, the world's…

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More attractions in Piedmont & Liguria

Cinque Terre National Park (Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre) 1
#1 must-see

Cinque Terre National Park (Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre)

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📍 La Spezia

Five villages cling to a stretch of Ligurian coastline where the Apennine mountains drop almost vertically into the sea, connected by cliff trails, a coastal railway, and a shared identity shaped by centuries of terraced farming, fishing, and geographic isolation. The Cinque Terre National Park was established to protect both the natural landscape and the human-made system of dry-stone terracing that has held the steep hillsides in place for generations.

The park encompasses the villages of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare, along with the surrounding marine protected area and the agricultural terraces that connect them. The trail network linking the villages varies considerably in difficulty — some sections are paved and accessible, others involve sustained climbing on rough stone paths. The terraced vineyards produce Sciacchetrà, a local sweet wine made from partially dried grapes, as well as the dry whites used in much of the local cuisine. The marine area supports diving and snorkelling, with rocky seabed habitats visible in the clear Ligurian water.

A Cinque Terre Card covers trail access and unlimited train travel between the villages, which is the most practical way to move along the coast given the limited road access. Spring and early autumn offer the best combination of mild weather, open trails, and manageable visitor numbers. Summer concentrates large crowds into a narrow coastal strip; arriving early and moving between villages by boat rather than trail reduces congestion significantly.

The park’s significance lies in the interdependence of its natural and cultural components — the terraces are not simply scenic backdrops but active agricultural infrastructure whose maintenance determines the stability of the hillsides themselves. This relationship between human land use and landscape preservation gives the Cinque Terre a depth of context that purely natural protected areas lack.

Riomaggiore 2
#2 must-see

Riomaggiore

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📍 Riomaggiore, La Spezia

Stacked against a steep cliff above the Ligurian Sea, Riomaggiore is the southernmost of the five Cinque Terre villages, its narrow lanes dropping sharply toward a small marina where fishing boats share mooring space with kayaks and dinghies. The village’s characteristic coloured buildings — terracotta, ochre, and faded yellow — rise in tight vertical columns from the waterfront, a form dictated entirely by the terrain rather than by any aesthetic intention.

The main street, Via Colombo, runs steeply from the train station down to the marina, lined with small shops, wine bars, and restaurants serving the seafood and pesto-based dishes characteristic of the Ligurian coast. The marina itself is the social centre of the village in the early morning and evening, when local fishermen tend their gear and the light on the water is at its most photogenic. A coastal path connects Riomaggiore to the neighbouring village of Manarola, passing through terraced vineyards where Sciacchetrà, the local sweet wine, is produced from grapes grown on some of Italy’s most dramatically situated agricultural land.

Spring and autumn offer the most comfortable visiting conditions — temperatures are mild, crowds are smaller than in July and August, and the terraced vegetation is either flowering or turning colour. The village is accessible by train from La Spezia in under fifteen minutes, which makes day trips straightforward but also concentrates visitor numbers between roughly 10am and 6pm. Arriving on an early morning train or staying overnight transforms the experience significantly.

Among the Cinque Terre villages, Riomaggiore is the most immediately accessible from La Spezia and consequently among the busiest. Its distinction lies in the vertical drama of its setting — the village essentially climbs a cliff — and in retaining a working fishing character that the more tourist-oriented villages to the north have largely set aside.

Vernazza 3
#3 must-see

Vernazza

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📍 Vernazza, La Spezia

Perched on a rocky promontory where the Ligurian hills meet the sea, Vernazza is widely regarded as the most visually complete of the five Cinque Terre villages. A natural harbour — the only true harbour among the five — opens onto a small piazza ringed by tall coloured buildings, and the view from the water looking back toward the village against its cliff backdrop has become one of the defining images of the Italian coast.

The village centres on the harbour square, where a medieval watchtower rises above a cluster of cafés and restaurants. The tower is climbable and offers elevated views across the rooftops and out to sea. The Church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia sits directly at the harbour’s edge, its position at the waterline giving it an unusual relationship with the tides. Above the village, terraced vineyards climb the steep hillsides, connected by stone paths that form part of the wider Cinque Terre trail network. The coastal path north toward Monterosso and south toward Corniglia both offer elevated views back toward the village from the cliff sections.

Vernazza draws the heaviest visitor concentration of the five villages during summer, and the harbour square can become genuinely congested between mid-morning and late afternoon in July and August. Early morning — before the first train crowds arrive — and evening, after the day visitors depart, reveal the village at its most liveable. Spring, particularly May, brings wildflowers on the terraces and comfortable temperatures with manageable crowds.

Among the Cinque Terre settlements, Vernazza stands apart through the combination of its natural harbour, its medieval architectural fabric, and the completeness of its setting. Where other villages in the group are impressive from specific angles, Vernazza composes well from almost any position — from the water, from the tower, from the surrounding trails — which accounts for its enduring prominence in representations of the Ligurian coastline.

Chiesa di San Pietro 4

Chiesa di San Pietro

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📍 Via Fieschi, 19, Corniglia, Italy, 19018

On a rocky headland above Corniglia, the central and highest of the Cinque Terre villages, a Romanesque church occupies one of the more dramatically positioned religious sites on the Ligurian coast. The Chiesa di San Pietro dates to the fourteenth century and replaced an earlier structure on the same promontory, its facade decorated with carved marble reliefs that have weathered centuries of sea wind without losing their essential detail.

The church exterior features a rose window and carved panels characteristic of Ligurian Romanesque craftsmanship, with decorative elements that reflect the maritime culture of the coast — references to the sea and to the fishing life that sustained the village above which it sits. The interior is modest relative to the elaborate facade, with a single nave and side chapels that preserve a quiet, working religious character. The headland around the church offers views along the coastline in both directions, taking in the cliff sections between Corniglia and the neighbouring villages and the open Ligurian Sea to the south.

Corniglia itself is the only Cinque Terre village without direct sea access, set on a cliff top rather than at water level. Reaching the church from the train station involves either climbing the long staircase known as the Lardarina or taking a shuttle bus to the village centre, followed by a short walk to the headland. The church is most atmospheric in the early morning before the day-trip crowds arrive from the coastal railway.

Within the Cinque Terre’s collection of historic religious buildings, San Pietro at Corniglia is notable for combining architectural quality with an exceptional natural setting. The headland position gives it a prominence that belies the small scale of the village it serves, and the carved facade represents some of the finer medieval stonework preserved along this section of the Ligurian coast.

See all things to do in Piedmont & Liguria

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The best things to do in Piedmont and Liguria reward those who take their time with wine and food as much as scenery. The Langhe hills of Piedmont — centred on Alba, La Morra, Barolo village, and Barbaresco — produce Italy’s most celebrated red wines (Barolo from Nebbiolo grapes ages 10-30 years in the bottle). The cellar door culture here is informal by Bordeaux standards — simply visit Vietti in Castiglione Falletto, Bruno Giacosa in Neive, or Gaja in Barbaresco and expect a personal welcome. The Enoteca Regionale del Barolo in Barolo village’s castle has every Barolo producer’s wine available for tasting. The Museo Egizio in Turin — with 40,000 ancient Egyptian artefacts — is the world’s second most important Egyptian collection after the Cairo Museum. The Cinque Terre (five villages — Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore — connected by coastal trail and train) are best visited on weekdays and outside July-August for a less overcrowded experience.

Best time to visit

Piedmont: September-November for the truffle season (white truffles from Alba, the world’s most expensive, are at their best October-December) and wine harvest. May-June for spring wildflowers in the alpine foothills and fewer crowds. Liguria and the Cinque Terre: April-June and September-October for the best coastal trail conditions without summer heat and crowds. July-August the Cinque Terre is extremely crowded; some coastal trails may be closed due to landslide risk after winter rains. Turin is a year-round city — winter has excellent skiing access (Sestriere and Via Lattea resort are 90 minutes away).

Getting around

Turin Caselle Airport connects Piedmont to main European hubs. Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport serves Liguria and the Riviera. High-speed trains connect Turin to Milan (1 hour) and to Genoa (2 hours). The Trenitalia Cinque Terre train (La Spezia to Levanto, stopping at all five villages) is the best way to move between the villages — buy the Cinque Terre Card for unlimited train rides plus trail access. A rental car is essential for exploring the Langhe wine country around Alba and Barolo. The SP 9 wine road through the Langhe is one of Italy’s finest driving routes.

What to eat and drink

Piedmont has Italy’s most complex regional cuisine. Tajarin (thin egg pasta with Barolo ragù or white truffle butter) is the region’s pasta. Bagna cauda (warm anchovy-and-garlic dip with raw vegetables) is the winter communal dish. White truffle shaved over fried eggs or pasta in Alba from October-December is a once-in-a-lifetime eating experience. Cuneo’s Miroglio chocolatier and Turin’s confectionery houses (Pfatisch, Gobino, Venchi) make the finest gianduiotti (hazelnut-chocolate pralines). In Liguria, pesto alla Genovese (made correctly with Pra’ basil, never in a blender) is the definitive preparation for trofie pasta. Focaccia di Recco (thin crispy flatbread filled with stracchino cheese) from Recco village, east of Genoa, is extraordinary. The Ligurian Riviera’s vermentino white wine and Cinque Terre DOC whites are excellent aperitivo choices.

Areas to explore

Turin (Torino) — The Mole Antonelliana (panoramic lift to the top, National Cinema Museum inside), the Museo Egizio, the Royal Palace and Armory, the Porta Palazzo market (Europe’s largest open-air market), and the Quadrilatero Romano aperitivo district.

Langhe Wine Country (Alba, Barolo, La Morra) — Barolo village (Enoteca Regionale in the castle), La Morra viewpoint (best Langhe panorama), Castiglione Falletto (Vietti winery), and Alba’s white truffle market (October-November).

Barbaresco / Neive — The Barbaresco production zone north of Alba. Gaja, Bruno Giacosa, and Produttori del Barbaresco cellar doors. Neive medieval village has excellent small restaurants with Langhe menus.

Genoa (Genova) — The medieval Caruggi (narrow alley network, Italy’s largest surviving medieval urban centre), the Porto Antico (redesigned by Renzo Piano), the Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco fine art museums, and the Christopher Columbus birthplace.

Cinque Terre — Vernazza (the most photogenic village, with a harbour castle and piazza), Monterosso al Mare (the only village with a proper beach), and the Via dell’Amore coastal path. Buy the Cinque Terre Card for rail and trail access.

Portofino — The famous harbour, the Castello Brown fortress above the village, and the San Fruttuoso Abbey (accessible only by boat or 90-minute trail). Day trip from Santa Margherita Ligure by ferry.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best things to do in Piedmont and Liguria?

The best things to do include wine tasting in Barolo and Barbaresco, white truffle hunting near Alba, visiting the Museo Egizio in Turin, hiking the Cinque Terre coastal trail, and exploring Portofino and the Ligurian Riviera. Both regions reward those who linger over food and wine.

How many days do I need?

Three nights in Turin plus two days in the Langhe covers Piedmont. Three to four nights in a Cinque Terre village (Vernazza or Monterosso) plus a Portofino day trip covers Liguria. A week combines both regions via the Genoa connection.

Is the area safe for tourists?

Yes, Piedmont and Liguria are among Italy's safest regions. Genoa's Caruggi require normal urban awareness. The Cinque Terre coastal trail has rockfall risks — always check trail status before hiking, particularly after winter rains.

What is the best time to visit?

October-November for Piedmont (truffles and harvest). April-June and September-October for Cinque Terre coastal hiking. Year-round for Turin's museums.

How do I get around?

High-speed trains connect Turin, Genoa, and La Spezia (Cinque Terre gateway). A rental car is essential for the Langhe wine country. The Cinque Terre Card covers the local train and hiking trails. Ferries connect the Cinque Terre villages seasonally.

Is the area expensive?

Piedmont's wine country is moderately priced. Barolo grand cru wines start at €30-50 at the cellar. Turin is one of Italy's most affordable major cities. Cinque Terre accommodation is expensive July-August; book months ahead or stay in La Spezia.

What are hidden gems in Piedmont and Liguria?

The Sacro Monte of Varallo in Piedmont (a 15th-century sanctuary complex of 45 chapels with life-size terracotta figures) is one of Italy's most extraordinary and overlooked religious sites. The Ligurian hinterland hill villages of Triora (the "witch village") and Apricale have remarkable medieval preservation. The Valle di Susa Benedictine Sacra di San Michele monastery, perched on a mountain above Turin, is one of Europe's most dramatically sited medieval monasteries.