Riomaggiore
Caught between two sharp terraced hills that descend to the sea in steep cliffs
the ancient village of Riomaggiore strikes the visitors with its houses vertically built and deliciously colored.
Walking through the alleys, vaults and stairs of the village, you are fascinated by the sequence of light and shade.
All houses have two entrances: one on the front side, at the level of the lane, the other at the back of the upper road, a structure that, in the 1500s, guaranteed an escape route in case of attack by the Saracens.
Riomaggiore has interesting monuments including San Giovanni Battista, a church built in the 1340s, with three naves, the central one double of the laterals (like the other churches of the Cinque Terre), and the Oratorio di Santa Maria Assunta which houses a triptych of the fourteenth century and a wooden statue of the Madonna. Also important is the castle that dominates the hystoric center.