Monday, August 19, 2024 Tourism surge disrupts local life, overcrowding public spaces and driving up prices, leaving residents struggling as essential services are replaced by eateries. In Riomaggiore, one of the five breathtaking villages forming the Cinque Terre along Italy’s northwestern coastline, nearly everyone holds a memory of the Via dell’Amore, also known as Love’s Lane. When Vittoria Capellini’s father was a young boy, his mother would instruct him to “run as fast as you can” over the more precarious sections of the path on his way to school, aware of the trail’s unstable cliff faces.
A rockslide in 2012 forced the closure of the trail, disappointing trekkers from around the globe and frustrating locals who lost easy access to services, schools, shops, and connections with friends and family. The only alternatives were overcrowded trains, ferries, or a strenuous hike through the hills. After a €24 million (S$35 million) renovation to stabilize the cliffs and prevent future incidents, the trail reopened to tourists in August.
Local officials are now considering the impact this reopening will have on an area that has seen a massive increase in visitors in recent years. When the Via dell’Amore closed 12 years ago, the region attracted around 870,000 visitors annually. By 2023, that number had skyrocketed to approximately four million, despite the local population being only around 4,000.
The surge in tourism has significantly altered life for many residents. Public spaces are more crowded, housing and food costs have risen, and essential stores, like butchers and fishmongers, have been replaced by restaurants and fried fish shops. One local commuter mentioned that trains are rarely on schedule due to the time needed for tourists to board and disembark at each of the five villages, where guards carefully monitor the often dangerously crowded platforms.
The trails linking the other Cinque Terre villages have become so congested with foot traffic that local authorities have had to implement one-way routes on the most crowded days. Compared to other popular destinations grappling with overtourism, such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Iceland, the small size of the Cinque Terre villages makes the impact even more pronounced. In Italy, tourist towns generally charge an overnight tax to help cover the costs of daily wear and tear.
However, in Cinque Terre, only a small percentage of visitors actually stay overnight in the villages, making the €2 per night tax almost negligible, according to Fabrizia Pecunia, the mayor of Riomaggiore and Manarola. In 2024, Venice became the first city to experiment with an entrance fee for day visitors, but the results remain uncertain. Ms.
Pecunia has repeatedly requested permission from the national government to implement a similar entrance fee, but her efforts have yet to succeed. Now, with the reopening of the Via dell’Amore, local officials hope to encourage visitors to explore less crowded paths, particularly those in the hills, away from the coastline. During peak season, access to the Via dell’Amore will be regulated, requiring reservations and limited to 400 people per hour, with a fee of €10.
Part of the ticket revenue will be allocated to ongoing maintenance, said Ms. Capellini, the deputy mayor of Riomaggiore, as she walked along the restored trail, once deemed unsafe by her father, now adorned with newly planted shrubs, benches for couples, and fading graffiti declaring love on the cliff walls..
