This is the most famous and spectacular path. It was made,
over the centuries, by those who used it to move from one
village to another and in many parts it is a mule track.
Although anybody can take the walk one must remember that
the ground can be slippery and, in places, the path is steep
and narrow. Take care. The path from Riomaggiore to Monterosso
is 12 km long and reaches a height of 200 metres at Prevo,
a small but interesting locality near Vernazza. The itinerary
is mostly made up of paths (8 km), and mule tracks (2 km)
while the remaining kilometres are made up of the Via dell'Amore
and streets inside the villages. This is the La Spezia's
C.A.I. n°2 path but is best known as the 'sentiero azzurro'
(sky-blue path) The entire itinerary is marked by a white
stripe and sky-blue stripe. Besides the Via dell'Amore
which dates back to the Thirties, the path is ancient and
was well-known at the time of the Republic of Genoa, when
Vernazza was the main docking bay of the area. It takes
five hours to complete the path, which has a difference
in height between the lowest and highest point of five hundred
metres. Remember that the estimated completion time doubles
if one visits the villages. Ideally, one should take a few
days to do the itinerary stopping at each village.
IMPORTANT: to walk on path 2 one has to pay a ticket
( daily) of Eur 3.00/person. As alternative we suggest to
purchase the "Cinque
Terre Card"