I turned away from the Cinque Terre and found quiet beauty on the Italian Riviera

I turned away from the Cinque Terre and found quiet beauty on the Italian Riviera

Italy’s crescent-shaped Riviera – which arcs from the French border to Tuscany – is synonymous with the Cinque Terre (those five postcard-perfect coastal fishing villages, with brightly coloured houses stacked onto the cliffside) and swanky Portofino, all to the east of Genoa. They look exquisite on Instagram, but the streets and hiking trails are so busy in summer that you walk in a constant tourist swarm (mostly American), the beaches are minu…