Via dell'Amore
The Via dell'Amore is 900 metres of paved path cut into a cliff face about thirty metres above the Ligurian Sea, connecting Riomaggiore and Manarola. It runs nearly flat, guarded by a railing and backed by 28,000 square feet of steel netting installed to hold the rock in place — a reminder that this coastline is as restless as it is photogenic.
After more than a decade closed following a 2012 landslide and subsequent wave damage, the path reopened on Valentine's Day 2025, the result of a $25 million restoration. Five art installations by Gino Covili now punctuate the route, set into the landscape at intervals that reward a slow pace.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who've walked it more than once tend to go early in the morning, right at the 9am opening, before the light goes flat and the timed groups stack up behind each other. The Riomaggiore end is where you start — one-way for day visitors — and the Covili installations reward a pause rather than a glance.
The story behind Via dell'Amore
The path dates to 1926–1928, when workers doubling the railway tracks cut a footpath along the cliff as a practical shortcut between Riomaggiore and Manarola. The only previous connection between the two villages required climbing roughly 600 steps on each side — steep enough that the new level path felt like a different world entirely.
By 1931 it had already outgrown its working origins and become a place people came to meet. It stayed open for over eighty years before a landslide on 24 September 2012 closed it indefinitely, with wave damage in 2018 compounding the problem. The restored path that reopened in February 2025 is, in the words of Riomaggiore mayor Fabrizia Pecunia, an attempt at 'a radical change' — remaking it as a model for considered, limited-access tourism rather than the mass throughfare it had become.
Good to know
Book your 15-minute time slot in advance; capacity is capped at 400 people per hour. From March 2026, access is included in the Cinque Terre Card. The walk takes around 30 minutes one-way. Trains run regularly between Riomaggiore and Manarola if you need to return.
Late spring (May to early June) gives you warm temperatures between 16°C and 22°C and thinner crowds than summer. July and August are the hottest months, peaking around 25°C, and the path will be at its busiest. September is a reasonable alternative, though October brings frequent short-burst rains. Winter is quiet and cool — around 6–9°C — and the path is open, which suits anyone who prefers the cliff to themselves.
Where is Via dell'Amore?
Location
- In Cinque Terre
- 44.1030, 9.7330
- Open in Google Maps
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