cinque terre

all 5 villages are accessible by train from Milan or florence

veena, As the previous reply mentioned, it's VERY easy to reach any of the five villages from either Milan or Florence. Depending on which train you choose, you'll access the Cinque Terre either via Genova or La Spezia. In most cases you'll have to transfer to the local trains. The travel times are very short - for example, from La Spezia to Riomaggiore (the most southerly village), the trip is only 8-10 minutes. Happy travels!

As Ken says, you reach the CT via local train from Genova or La Spezia. Looking at trains from Firenza or Milano you might not realize the faster trains won't stop in the CT so you have to change at one end or the other. From Milan, Genoa; from Florence, La Spezia.

Monterosso al Mare has several direct interCity (iC) trains from Milano Centrale. They take about three hours and there is no train change. If you wanted to get to another village, you would change in Moterosso to a local train.

Thanks to all of you!