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