On September 1st it stopped being a project and started to be a path to put under your boots, we are talking about RivierAlp, the cross-border path that unites the Cuneo valleys with Menton, Sanremo and Imperia, also crossing the French Alpine side. The path largely follows existing routes and, in particular, the ancient salt routes which for centuries connected the Maritime Alps to the sea.
The project was born within RivierALP – Interreg Alcotra, an Italian-French cross-border cooperation initiative headed by the Municipality of Limone Piemonte, with operational coordination entrusted to Conitours, the consortium of tourist operators in the province of Cuneo. The partners include the Management Body of the Protected Areas of the Maritime Alps, the Municipality of Sanremo, the Ligurian Alps Park and the Province of Imperia on the Italian side, and the Menton Tourist Office, the Community of the Roya-Bevera-Menton Valley and the Department of the Maritime Alps on the French side.
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From Limone to the sea: the access gates and signs
The RivierAlp network accompanies the walker from the mountains towards the coast along three main routes which lead to Menton, Sanremo and Imperia, with Limone Piemonte as the key starting point. The route towards Menton crosses the border and runs through the French Roya Valley, descending from the alpine areas of Castérino and Tende towards the villages of Saint-Dalmas-de-Tende, La Brigue, Saorge and Sospel, up to the Mediterranean.
To make an itinerary built by assembling pre-existing paths recognisable, Conitours has started the installation of dedicated trail markers, integrated into the signage already present in the area. Alongside the signs, the official cartography also arrives: the printing of the map of the route has been completed, while the publication of the map guide is expected during September, with information on stages, points of interest and services available along the route.
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The walker’s passport
As in many long-distance routes, RivierAlp also has its passport: a booklet that accompanies the traveler stage after stage and which can be collected free of charge at the tourist offices identified as access gates. On the Italian side it is available in the ATL offices of the Cuneo area in Cuneo, Limone Piemonte, Chiusa di Pesio and Ormea, as well as at the Terme di Valdieri visitor center and the tourist office in Entracque. Those arriving from France can collect it in Tenda, at the tourist information bureau.
Each access door has its own stamp, which is placed on the passport at the time of collection: a small ritual which, in addition to the symbolic value for those who walk, also serves Conitours to monitor the flows and understand which entrances are chosen most often, useful data to guide the future promotion of the walk.
The finish line, between Sanremo, Imperia and Menton
Anyone who completes the route by reaching one of the three final locations, Sanremo, Imperia or Mentone, can collect the traveller’s basket, made up of typical products of the territories crossed. More than a simple prize, it is thought of as a symbolic seal of a journey that starts from the peaks and ends in front of the sea, restoring through local excellence the identity of an area that for centuries has lived precisely from that exchange between mountain and coast.
The project, moreover, was not born as an isolated initiative: in July the sixth Steering Committee of RivierALP, meeting at the Conitours headquarters in Cuneo, already discussed the creation of a permanent Coordination Committee which will manage paths and cycle routes even after the closure of the Interreg financing, a sign that the ambition goes beyond the opening at the beginning of September.
Information on stages, access gates, passport and services can be requested directly from Conitours, or consulted on the official RivierAlp website.
