One of the most beautiful tracks in La Spezia area is a very short one, going from Riomaggiore to Manarola in the Cinque Terre. Partly reopened in 2015 after a landslide happened in 2013, the “path of Love”, Via dell’Amore, is today partly accessible to tourists to take some of the most beautiful pictures and memories of the Cinque Terre to take home.
Lovers from all over the world linger at sunset time along this path, which actually was given this romantic name by a Riomaggiore mayor in a occasional circumstance: the enlargement of the railway tunnel of the line La Spezia-Genoa occurred in the 20ies, connecting the train from Riomaggiore to Manarola. To secure the two places, a sort of powder magazine was built halfway for storing explosive material needed to carry out the debris. To join opposite yards to the filing of explosives, two small rock paths were built from the two villages. When the works finished, the paths joined and remained as a conjunction of two places, which had been previously secluded from each other for ages to the point that the contacts between the two communities were almost non-existent: people in Riomaggiore and Manarola speak two different variants of the Ligurian language, despite their closeness. In the thirties, thanks to the generosity of the local people who allowed the passage in their property, the Path of Love was inaugurated.