SoggiornaTrail 501 is the historic mule track climbing from Riomaggiore to the watershed between the sea and the Vara valley: 2.3 kilometres and almost 590 metres of ascent, an hour and a half uphill according to the National Park, which rates it for experienced hikers.
It leaves the road near the Castle, passes the shrine of the Madonna del Castello and climbs the hillside to the Litoranea, provincial road 370. From there it climbs steeply up the Costa Campione, between vineyard terraces and vegetable gardens.
Higher up, abandoned vineyards give way to chestnut and pine woods. Beside a vineyard stands the shrine known as the "Maduneta di Palermi"; the Park also points out a sandstone boulder carved with a cross and cup marks along the way. Water and services only in Riomaggiore.