Market Day in Monterosso al Mare

It's market day in Monterosso al Mare and we head down to Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi to see what has come to the village for sale.  One the way, we find that one of the local cats has a better idea:  nap.

Lazy morning

In the market, we wander the stalls, admiring the clothing, housewares, vegetables, meat, cheeses, and food for consumption on the spot.  We purchase a shirt at one of the stalls and continue to wander.

Market day in the piazza

After wandering through and around the market, we stroll off to explore Monterosso's old town, revisiting some places and looking for new streets and neighborhoods that we haven't previously seen on other trips.

Walking through the streets of Monterosso

We walk up to a hill across from Hotel Villa Steno and find new (to us) neighborhoods, gardens, and views across the village and also a path to Termine, a trail that we haven't followed yet and we put it on our list of things to do later (this trip or the next).

Views across the village

Hotel Villa Steno in the distance

Path (untaken) to Termine

We descend and continue through the village, up and down the stairs/streets, until we reach the statue of San Francisco d'Assisi overlooking the harbor, from which we can look north and south to the new town and the old town of Monterosso.

Continuing through Monterosso

Overlooking the beach

Looking north and south

We get a great view of the stretch of beach along Via Fegina, then descend to the street and enjoy the blooming trees and bushes across from the sea.

Beach view

In bloom

At the end of Via Fegina, we step into Barabba in White for lunch:  octopus salad and pizza ai frutti di mare.

Salad and pizza

As the sun sets, we sit outside our room at Hotel Villa Steno and take a few pictures looking across the roofs of the village as the colors change, darkness advances, and the happy sounds of the city rise up to us.

Night arrives

Another perfect day in one of our favorite places in the world!

Via Dell'Amore in Riomaggiore

We stop for lunch in the harbor at Riomaggiore, picking up two focacce, one with olives and one with tomato, and sitting on the wall outside the shop to dine.

Decending to the harbor

Dining view

We have purchased timed-entry tickets to Via dell'Amore, the 900 meter (0.56 mile) path along the cliff  between Riomaggiore and Manarola, excavated through and winding along the hard rock face overhanging the sea.  The Via dell'Amore path dates from the beginning of the 20th century, during the modernization of the Genoa-La Spezia railway line, when the footpath was created for the railroad workers to move between Riomaggiore and Manarola for construction of the tunnel between the villages.  A legend holds that this footpath also became a meeting place for lovers from the two villages.

The path reopened last year after being closed by a landslide on September 24, 2012, with the destruction later compounded by wave damage in 2018.  We enter and walk the path between the villages.

Starting along the path

Views of the water

Monterosso in the distance

Continuing along the path

Great sea water

Picture of the path at night

Displays of the story and history of the path

We continue along the cliff to Manarola, from which we had taken the train to Riomaggiore before lunch.

Continuing along the path

Exiting at the Manarola train station

We first walked Via dell'Amore about thirteen years ago and left our padlock (along with many others) on the chain link fencing covering the rocks at that time.  Now our lock is probably on the bottom of the Mediterranean, but at least we get to walk the path again!