ITALY's most intimate spot reopens for holidaymakers - but there's a catch. The stunning Via dell’Amore path on the Italian Riviera shut 12 years ago and is reopening as an "open air museum" from Saturday. "Lovers' Lane" connects seaside villages Manarola and Riomaggiore around 75 miles away from Genoa, forming a chunk of the Cinque Terre national park.
It appealed to lovebirds as meeting in the Liguria hotspot didn't require scaling a cliff. Friends and lovers alike would flock to the route to express their affection using padlocks and sweet graffiti. But in 2012, officials were prompted to shut access to the well-known path following a landslide.
Now, overtourism plagues the villages connecting the path, so officials are limiting visits to just 4,000 a day. Tourists must buy tickets for staggered entry and staff on the rugged Italian coastline will be there to monitor affection. Locals have even reported loved up couples attempting to craft makeshift padlocks by tying a pair of knickers around the rails.
Riomaggiore mayor Fabrizia Pecunia is keen to tackle over tourism as Cinque Terre took in a staggering four million tourists in 2023 despite having fewer than 4,000 residents. She said: "We’re not doing it to make money . In 2011 it had around 870,000 visitors so we basically want to keep the old numbers but distribute [them] better.
" Cinque Terre, a coastal national park comprised of five fishing villages and rocky cliffs, received a million less visitors the year befo.