Perhaps you’ve been online trying to find accommodations for your stay in the Cinque Terre and you’ve noticed that people are mentioning a new tax for those staying in the area.  Like many popular Italian cities (Rome, Florence, Venice, etc.), the Cinque Terre villages are following suit and imposing a city tax on visitors staying here.

Before you get too excited, don’t worry… this tax shouldn’t make or break you.  The tax is 1 euro, per person, per day, for a maximum of three days (so the maximum city tax per person for any single stay would be 3 euro).  This amount will need to be paid directly to your hotel or the owner of the room or apartment you have rented (they, in turn, will have to fill out paperwork and submit the tax to the Comune).  As it currently stands, the new tasso di soggiorno will apply to those that stay in the villages within the Comune di Riomaggiore and the Comune di Vernazza between the dates of March 1st and October 31st, 2015.  This means if you stay in the villages of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Groppo, Volastra, Corniglia, Prevo or Vernazza you should expect to pay the city tax this year.  At the moment, the Comune di Monterosso has not approved a tasso di soggiorno so those staying there are exempt.  

The city tax was not welcome by most locals in the Cinque Terre, many of which are dependent on tourism for their livelihood.  City leaders in both the Comune di Riomaggiore and Comune di Vernazza assure locals that this city tax will help with the costs of maintaining not just the villages but also the surrounding territory, trails and dry stone terraces.  Time will only tell if that will truly be the case.  In the meantime, our fingers are crossed.