The Cinque Terre is a series of five villages tightly clinging to steep hillsides along a short stretch of coastline south of Genoa. The villages are connected by trails and train, but difficult to reach by car. Corniglia is the only one of the villages that does not slope down to the sea. Though popular with tourists, there are no chain hotels or modern concrete and steel high-rise buildings. In October they sustained heavy rains and flooding that did a lot of damage to the towns and the trails connecting them.