Madonna di Montenegro in Riomaggiore is definitely among our favorite places in Cinque Terre. By train from Levanto, it only takes about twenty minutes, with the regional fast train even less ;)

Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore is “a vertical village” that develops along the main street built by covering the Rivus Maior, which gave the village its name.

Its colorful houses, stairs, vaults, and the murals on the facades can only fascinate. As in other villages of the Cinque Terre, here too houses have two entrances: one on the front and the other on the back, up the road, which ensures an escape way in case of attack by the Saracens, which happened quite often in the sixteenth century …

The three speakers of the village are worth a visit: Santa Maria Assunta, of St. Anthony Abbot and St. Rocco.

In the upper part of the village, you will also find the church of San Giovanni Battista, built-in 1340, on a basilica plan, with beautiful pillars in different styles and a magnificent fifteenth-century rose window.

Madonna di Montenero

Just in front of the church, you’ll find the ATC bus stop that connects Riomaggiore to its hamlets and a spot not far from the Shrine of the Madonna di Montenero so that even non-walkers can reach it with minimal effort ;)

If you plan in taking it, you might consider buying a Cinque Terre Card.

From the bus stop, climb the stairs that lead to the shrine terrace in only ten minutes, passing through beautiful vineyards.

The view from the top of 354 meters above sea level is breathtaking! The sweep over the whole of Liguria, from the Maritime Alps to the islands Gorgona and Capraia and if the sky is clear Corsica seems very close too… an actual show.

The church of Madonna di Montenero was built around the XI century to venerate an image of the Madonna, which a century before the inhabitants of Riomaggiore had hidden underground to protect it from the barbarians. It seems that upon its extraction from the earth, a fountain gushed…

After admiring the view for a long time and having taken advantage of the silence and stillness that here dominate, we walked along the path “Verde Azzurro SVA” (former No. 3a), which, starting from the front porch of the church, falls in the country through stairways with an amazing sea view, stretches of paved road and parts of the old mule route and that in little more than half an hour leads to the old part of the village.

Evening in Riomaggiore

Once in town, we treated ourselves to a shopping break in a tiny fantastic shop whose owners are working copper and minerals, and after a suffered choice, I picked a beautiful violet pendant :)

From there, we moved to a small frying shop on the left side of the street looking at the sea. Run by two local fishermen offering fresh anchovies fried upon request… how can one resist? We walked to the Marina for an exceptional din with our filled cones, sitting on a wall overlooking the sea and a stunning sunset. I recommend it!

We spent a wonderful afternoon and a perfect romantic evening in lovely Riomaggiore.