The cliffside path connecting Riomaggiore to Manarola runs for about a kilometre above the sea, carved into the rock face in the late 1920s during railway tunnel construction. It is one of the most famous short walks in Italy — popular to the point of requiring a ticket and timed entry in high season. After years of closure following rockfall damage, it reopened in 2024. The views across the sea toward Manarola are excellent, and the walk takes about twenty minutes.
Via dell'Amore
A story
The path was not built for romance — it was a service track for railway construction workers in the late 1920s. Once the tunnel work was done, the path was abandoned. Local people from Riomaggiore and Manarola started using it to visit each other — two villages that had previously been almost entirely isolated. The story goes that someone chalked "Via dell'Amore" at the entrance as a joke, and the name stuck, eventually becoming official.