We arrived in the city of La Spezia last evening. It’s on the west coast of Italy, a couple of hours north of Pisa in the region of Tuscany. Last night, this area was hit by a huge storm. Nine people are confirmed dead and six more are missing. Several villages were hit by mud slides or flooding. We are safe and we are grateful.
Yesterday afternoon, we traveled north up the coast from the city of Lucca. It was raining hard but the driving was manageable. We followed the coast road and a strong surf was visible on the beaches. At one point we crossed a bridge and could see the swollen river below. It was brown with runoff and filled with debris. People were frantically trying to save their boats moored on the sides of the river. We were passed by several emergency vehicles heading to the scene.
We arrived in La Spezia in heavy rain. We found a camping place near the port and hunkered down for the evening. The rain came in torrents. At one point, the water was cascading over the sides of the S&M Motel like a waterfall. The thunder clapped and the storm raged. It rained hard all night. Both we and the S&M Motel survived undamaged.
Not so fortunate were the citizens of many nearby communities. We came here to hike the famous Cinque Terre (‘Five Lands’), a 12 kilometer trail along the Ligurian Coast (‘Costa Ligure of Levante’), a rough stretch of Italian coastline that passes through five villages that are so unique and picturesque as to be deemed a Unesco World Heritage Site and to be protected by a national park.
Last night’s storm devastated this region, and in particular two of the villages along the Cinque Terre — Vernazza and Monterosso. More information and video are available here.
The trail is closed for the foreseeable future as rescue efforts continue. Most of the roads out of La Spezia are blocked, as are the train tracks, so we’ll probably wait here for another day or two then move on.
I sit in a bar watching the news with the local people, drinking wine, and writing. Every day above the ground is a good day.
I watched the news this morning wondering if u were near this area. I’m happy to hear that you both are fine. Thanks for the update.