This audio journey walks the Sentiero Azzurro — the Blue Trail — linking the five cliff-clinging villages of the Ligurian coast, from Monterosso in the north to Riomaggiore in the south. Guided by two hosts, Leo and Clara, the guide moves village by village through the history that built this landscape: the back-breaking construction of the dry-stone terraces, the isolation that bred a singular culture suspended between a pirate-haunted sea and wolf-filled forests above, and the twentieth-century exodus that hollowed the terraces out.
Along the way, historical and local voices step in — among them a poet’s-eye view drawn from Eugenio Montale, who turned this bleached, sun-baked coast into verse, and village figures like Nonna Letizia, who carry the lived memory of survival on a forty-five-degree cliff. The guide reckons honestly with the physical toll of the place: the legumes and chestnut-flour castagnaccio that fed people through winter, and the infamous Lardarina steps that punish the descent from Corniglia.
Episode 7 tackles the Lardarina — the long brick staircase out of Corniglia. Listen for “The Long Descent” as you go down, and savour the quiet of the village that tourism has altered the least, simply because it’s so hard to reach.
Purchase this guide to unlock this, and all the remaining chapters.
Each of the 12 episodes is scored with original music, from the Mediterranean opener “Cuttlefish Shore” to the orchestral finale “The Cuttlefish Bone.”
Trace the Blue Trail north to south, village by village, from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. The map marks all five villages and the cliff-edge paths between them.
Receive our monthly dossier on medieval trekking routes, architectural restoration news, and scholarly mule maintenance tips.
