Cinque Terre is about wandering around and enjoying the sea. There isn’t a ton to do in the way of sightseeing, which makes it a relaxing respite after the busyness of Rome and other major Italian cities. In Cinque Terre if all you do is lounge around eating and sipping wine and looking at the water then you would have done it right.
One evening we watched the sunset at the Terrazza del Pincio with cheap wine in plastic cups, toasting as the sky turned coral over Piazza del Popolo and its Egyptian obelisk. Later, we bought Neapolitan-style pizza and ate it at midnight in front of marble gods at the Trevi Fountain. We talked often about how crazy it was to be in Rome without crowds.