Guarding the only secure landing point on the Cinque Terre coast, Vernazza is the quaintest of the five villages.

BBC: Lonely Planet's top European seaside escapes

Rooted in antiquity, Cinque Terre's five towns date from the early medieval period and barely anything about these five crazily constructed Ligurian villages has changed in over three centuries.

BBC: Lonely Planet's top European seaside escapes

Buildings aside, Cinque Terre's most unique historical feature is the steeply terraced cliffs bisected by a complicated system of fields and gardens that has been shaped over the course of nearly two millennia.

BBC: Lonely Planet's top European seaside escapes

This 530-mile rail trip sets out from the waterworld of Venice, journeys across northern Italy to the rugged Cinque Terre region, continues to Tuscany for the treasures of Florence and Cortona, then heads south to the Eternal City, Rome.

BBC: The perfect trip: Italy

In northern Italy, try the Cinque Terre.

BBC: Italy��s finest coastlines

The most accessible village by car, and the only Cinque Terre settlement to sport a tourist beach, is Monterosso, which is the furthest west and least quintessential of the quintet (it was briefly ditched from the group in the 1940s).

BBC: Lonely Planet's top European seaside escapes