Riomaggiore Audio Guide

Riomaggiore: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Riomaggiore

   Welcome to Riomaggiore, the village where the Cinque Terre begin if you are coming from the east. It is also the most southerly of the five, and the seat of the local administration. Locals call it Rimazzô in the Ligurian language. It sits in a small valley in the Liguria region, in the province of La Spezia. Picture a village squeezed between two steep, terraced hills that tumble down to the sea in sharp steps. The houses are colorful and built vertically, stacked above one another, and the village is stitched together by vaults and staircases. Nothing here is flat, and that is the whole point of the place. In this guide we will follow the village from its medieval founding, through its Genoese master plan and its hilltop castle, to its churches, its painters and its modern fame. Let your eyes climb the houses as you listen, because Riomaggiore is built to be read from the bottom to the top.

2. 02

   A Village Born at the Mouth of a Stream

   The earliest news of this territory dates to 1239, when the people of the now vanished district of Carpena swore loyalty to the Genoese Company. Then, in 1251, the inhabitants of the small hamlets scattered halfway up the slopes chose to gather at the mouth of the stream, the rio, that runs through the valley. That is how Riomaggiore was founded, and the name still carries the stream in it. 1251 is also the year of the first documents mentioning the village. It swore allegiance to the Republic of Genoa as a fief of the Lords of Ripalta. It then passed under the Fieschi family, and in 1276 it was definitively sold to Genoa. Here is a curious detail about the Cinque Terre. Until 1871, Corniglia was also a hamlet of Riomaggiore, together with Manarola. Today they are separate villages with their own identities, but for centuries they shared an administrative story. Under French rule from the end of 1797, Riomaggiore was annexed to the Department of the Gulf of Venus, and later to the Department of the Apennines under the First Empire of France.

3. 03

   Tower Houses, Terraces and the Genoese Plan

   Look at how Riomaggiore is organized, because it follows the architectural scheme of the Genoese possessions. The inhabited center was built descending along the course of the stream, in parallel rows of tower houses. These buildings were both homes and military structures, so a family lived inside what was also a small defensive tower. The houses have a clever feature: double access on different levels. One entrance was the official one, facing the sea. The other lay upstream, at a higher level, so that people could escape if an attack came suddenly from the water. It is a village designed with its back door built into the hillside. Genoese rule also reshaped the landscape around you. Under the Republic, the Cinque Terre began a real process of economic and commercial development, and it gave rise to the terraces you can still admire today. They made possible the kind of farming now called heroic agriculture, which is a fair name for growing crops on slopes this steep.

4. 04

   Castle, Church and a Painter's Eye

   High above the historic center stands the castle of Riomaggiore. Work began in 1260 at the behest of the lords of Ripalta, and it was completed in the late fifteenth century under the Republic of Genoa. It is a small quadrangular fortress in a dominant, decidedly panoramic position, with walls reinforced by two circular towers. Over time it even served as a local cemetery. Today it is the municipality's conference room and cultural center. In the upper part of the village you can visit the church of San Giovanni Battista, built in 1340. It has a basilica plan, pillars in different styles and two Gothic doors. Its central nave is double the width of the side ones, as in the other churches of the Cinque Terre. The village also has the oratory of Santa Maria Assunta. In the nineteenth century, Riomaggiore had about 3000 inhabitants, and it enchanted the Florentine painter Telemaco Signorini, a leading figure of the Macchiaioli movement. Painters are drawn here by the same thing you will notice: bright houses stacked up a cliff, stairways and vaults, and the sea always showing between them.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Riomaggiore is the first of the five villages connected by trail, and its most famous path is the Via dell'Amore, which links the village to Manarola. It is about one kilometer long and offers a view of the coastline from a different angle. Its status can change, so check it with the national park before you plan your walk. The village's look has traveled far beyond Liguria. Riomaggiore and the other Cinque Terre towns inspired the fictional Portorosso in the 2021 animated film Luca. As you wander, try a few small experiments. Follow the stream's old course downhill and see how the houses line up. Look for the doors on different levels and imagine which one a family would have used in an emergency. Then climb toward the castle and turn around. The view from up there may be the best explanation of why this village was built where it was.