Via dell'Amore

The famous cliffside walk linking Manarola to Riomaggiore — about a kilometre, paved, almost flat, with the Ligurian Sea straight below. Originally cut for railway maintenance crews in the 1920s, it was renamed Via dell'Amore in the 1970s when somebody noticed that couples were locking padlocks to the railings.

A rockfall in 2012 closed the path for over a decade. A short eastern segment has reopened in recent years; the full route is supposed to be back in service after major rebuilding works. Check current status before you walk. If it's open, do it at dusk — the cliff face glows red and the sea turns ink-blue. If it's closed, the inland Sentiero Beccara is the steep alternative.

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A story
The path was hacked into the cliff face in the 1920s to let railway workers shuttle between the two villages. The romantic name and the love-padlocks came much later, after a 1970s tourism push. A long-promised reopening of the full route after a 2012 landslide kept slipping for over a decade; check the latest before you assume it's walkable.

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