Cinque Terre trail closure

This is the official site Italian of all the current closings red circles
http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Esentieri-outdoor.php

But these trails can close and reopen depending on weather and season

Thank You Jazz. The site is says open or closed but no dates of when may open. To me it would be great to have some kind of idea when the darn trails may open? I love how layed back the Italians are, but curious to the openings?

I don't know what you mean by laid back when it comes to safety
Some tourists were injured by landslide on the Via Amore trail, in 2012

It has nothing to do with being laid back.

The area is very steep and with rain it is subject to mudslides, therefore they close and open trails as weather conditions change.

The Via dell'Amore was the subject of a major landslide that injured some Australian tourists and is only partially open on the Manarola side. The entire trail will not reopen anytime soon because it needs to be rebuilt and the City of Riomaggiore does not have the necessary financing. You are welcome to send your contribution to the City of Riomaggiore. Make the Cinque Terre great again!

Wow, not trying to step on any toes here. Just wishing to have estimated opening times. Please don't read too much into that.

If the official website does not have any estimated opening dates, then it's highly unlikely that anyone here would have any additional information. If anything, if they are in CT currently they may have information about current closings and/or openings but that will have no value for May 2017.

I don't think anyone here felt their toes were being stepped on, they were just giving you as accurate information as they possibly could.

erik,

A few thoughts.....

To begin with, it's important to remember that there is an extensive network of trails in the Cinque Terre, and not just the popular Sentiero Azzurro trails. The map that was linked in an earlier reply shows all the trails. Many of the others go further up into the hills so are a more robust hike, but if you're an avid hiker you shouldn't have any trouble with those. Only the Sentiero Azzurro trails require a Park Pass to hike, the others are "free".

As Roberto mentioned, the status of the trails can change on short notice because of weather conditions at the time. The somewhat official start of tourist season in the C.T. is 1 April, and I'd expect that the Monterosso - Vernazza - Corniglia trail segments will be open at that time. The Cornigila - Manarola - Riomaggiore segments are not expected to open until April 2018, although that can change at any time.

The Cornigla - Manarola segment has been closed for a number of years due to severe slide damage, which can be seen in the centre of the photo. The Manarola - Riomaggiore segment was closed in September 2012 as a result of a severe rock slide which seriously injured four Australian tourists (they were lucky to survive). The trail was closed so that measures could be installed to protect visitors, including sections of chain link fencing on the hillsides. That photo was taken at the Manarola end of the Via dell' Amore, near the small bar.

If you're an energetic hiker, it would still be possible for you to make the hike you planned. However you'll have to use the "high trail" sections of the Corniglia - Manarola - Riomaggiore trails, so you'll need to budget extra time for those. Be sure to bring lots of water.

One point regarding the Ferries, is that they're somewhat dependent on weather, so if the seas are rough, they won't be running. That's not a problem as you can take the local trains back to Monterosso.

Thank you, Ken, for the information provided above! I had an idea in my mind that there are actually multiple trails between each town. I'm glad to know that is indeed the case.

Roberto,
Just curious why the city of Riomaggiore has trouble with financing? Don't the tourist crowds give that area plenty of income for rebuilding a trail?

Although many would probably take offense to this, things definitely do more slower in Italy with much red tape.
Getting these trails rebuilt required outside funding from what I read and from an outsiders (Americans) viewpoint is moving at a snail's pace.

Forgive me if I sound rude I would prefer to spend my vacation dollars in Italy over anywhere else but if these trails were in a US National Park they would have repaired and reopened years ago. It is definitely a funding issue.

They probably don't make enough on the trails to properly upkeep them and budget for major repairs, they should charge more for admission to the trails and/or local train and ferry service to fund the trail maintenance.
Much of Italy is facing difficult financial times so towns or the government not having excess money for such repairs is not a surprise.
If Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Arches, Acadia, etc... were supported purely based on admission fees and the local town's contributions those parks would not exist as they are today ; as that is probably covers 1% of their maintenance costs.

To the OP keep it mind it is off season in the winter right now, the Cinque Terre is very quiet now the park website likely not updated during these months and not sure if construction on going or not.
Even if an opening date was listed I would absolutely not trust it and expect it to not open for 6 months past whenever they do actually post a date of.

Complains aside it is a beautiful area, I loved the time we spent there this fall even with the crowds and parts of the main trail closed.
As mentioned for real hikers, there are countless other trails to explore that are open.

You should be aware though other trails connect the towns were the trails are closed and go to other towns above the well known 5 ; these walks are more difficult but also much longer in duration so walking all in 1 day your purposed route I am not sure is doable even for a serious hiker.

"the plenty of income" tourists give may go to restaurants or hotels or cruise companies, not necessarily to the City of Riomaggiore, which is a minuscule municipality.

The only taxes that go to the city is the hotel tourist tax of a few euro per night (not even sure if they have that in Riomaggiore, since not all cities have it), plus some other taxes home owners pay, called TASI, for various common services like lighting, personnel, street maintenance etc., TARI, for garbage disposal, and IMU, which is a rather low property tax that Italians pay on second homes only (first residence home is property tax free) and can be used for anything.

Income taxes and VAT go to the Italian State, and those politicians in Rome have better uses for those revenues than caring about tourists walking on a trail.

The "Via dell'Amore" is under the City's jurisdiction, unlike the rest of the trails, which are under the jurisdiction of the National Park.

The Region of Liguria and the Italian Ministry of Environment just appropriated 5 million euro last November to repair the damage. Work is supposed to commence in 2017. Good luck with that.