A small, traditionally poor area, the Cinque Terre is being transformed, apparently against the odds.
…so successful is it becoming, that in recent years the residents of Riomaggiore and the other hamlets strung out along the Ligurian coast have been enjoying a lifestyle their predecessors could only have dreamed of.
Courtesy of the National Park, they now receive free natural medicine, massage treatments and health screenings.
There is a free shopping service for elderly residents and subsidised child care for working parents. Cars are banned – replaced by electric buses.
It has become a farming utopia; a place where tourists and others from outside are in the front line of conservation.
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