punta Mesco

This guide to Punta Mesco, the headland between Levanto and Monterosso in Cinque Terre, opens with a three-century disagreement over when the hermitage of Sant'Antonio del Mesco was first built, officially 1380 but perhaps far older. It follows the succession of lookouts stationed on this cliff, from monks watching for pirate sails to the Italian Navy's Semaforo del Mesco, built in 1917 to track ships running between Genoa and La Spezia. You'll hear about the uncertainty over exactly when that watch finally ended. Stand where the old signal station's cracked window once framed the open sea.