“What is it with the Americans and Cinque Terre?” asked a Danish fellow dining beside me at La Cantina di Miky in Monterosso al Mare. “We thought we found a hidden gem, then we got here, and I’ve never seen so many Americans in my life.” 

For better or worse, Italy’s famed Cinque Terre, or “Five Towns,” is an American darling. The craggy, vertiginous 15-kilometer stretch of Italy’s northwest Ligurian coast is scattered with compact clusters of bright villages. Travel guidebook writer Rick Steves fell for the region in the 1990s and started spreading the good word–it traveled fast. Today, nearly 3 million annual visitors, day-trippers included, swarm the fragile territory. And it’s not just Americans.