Pirates on the horizon in Liguria…500 years later

Liguria is one of the smallest regions of Italy, and this skinny boomerang shaped zone hooks along some of the most beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean. This means busy seaside summers and millions of sun-kissed modern day visitors, but this same sea had the great potential for terror centuries ago.

The seafront towers and structures that are now photo backgrounds in the small villages that make up the Cinque Terre National Park were once important vantage points for villagers. Ever vigilant, they had to look out over the same blue Ligurian sea for survival, under the constant threat of invasion by pirates.

Centuries ago, villagers lived in the hills and mountains over where the villages are now located on the sea, making an escape into these hills that frame the rocky seaside much easier. A lookout fire burned in the distance, a constant flame meaning safety, and a flickering one meaning that the villagers needed to make a quick escape.

July 8th of 1544 was a day where the flickering flame on Punta Mesco, the mountain that looms over one end of the village, wasn’t sufficient to save tiny Monterosso al Mare, and the famous Turkish pirate Dragut invaded, burning the church (and the residents inside) and looting the whole town, as well as capturing the men and women who laid in his path.

Reenactment of the pirate attack. Photo credit: Bella Vita Italia

Every year, Monterosso al Mare commemorates and reenacts this important part of their history.  This year, with help from the theater group Nuove Terre and the Amaploa (the local dialect theater), the village was again sacked and looted – but this time, it ended on a happy note, with a couscous buffet and dance party in the piazza.

The beach in the Old Town, the historical center of Monterosso, was turned into a stage, with a recreation of the famous black and white church so typical of Liguria. Residents dressed up as citizens from once-upon-a-time, and went about their business peacefully, until darkness fell and the fire that was set on the modern day boat harbor flickered.

Photo credit: Bella Vita Italia

Hundreds of tourists, children, and residents looked on as local men dressed as pirates slowly arrived from the distance on a recreation of an ancient pirate ship, before jumping into the sea and arriving on the beach, taking the Monterossini as prisoners before burning the church on the beach.

Photo credit: Bella Vita Italia

After a ransom was provided in the piazza, the festival ended on a happier note than in the past, with the villagers being freed and the whole thing erupting into an all night party in the piazza, with locals dressed up like villagers and pirates ate the “pirate influenced” couscous and drank local wine.

Photo credit: Bella Vita Italia

It’s easy to see Liguria as a tourist’s paradise – a little slice of heaven on earth, with it’s picturesque villages, colorful houses seemingly ready to lean and fall right into the crystal sea below.  Yet, just because there are no big museums in the Cinque Terre it doesn’t mean that this area doesn’t have an interesting history – the locals just have different ways of commemorating it.

The Festa Dei Pirati is usually held in July in the village of Monterosso al Mare. Hope to have you join in the fun next year!