Oratory of Santa Maria Assunta, or of the Disciplinanti

The building dates back to the 16th century and was connected to the Confraternity of the Disciplinanti of the Assunta, a religious and community organisation that played an important role in village life. Its position along the main street makes it one of the historic places most easily encountered during a visit, while still maintaining an intimate dimension that is often less immediately noticed than the more popular viewpoints.

The façade is simple and consistent with the minor religious architecture of Ligurian villages. Inside, the oratory preserves works connected with local devotion, including a wooden statue of the Madonna delle Catene, traditionally linked to the memory of inhabitants who, over the centuries, suffered raids and kidnappings during Saracen incursions. There is also a tempera triptych depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Dominic of Guzmán.

The oratory talks about an important side of Riomaggiore: confraternities, popular devotion and forms of community solidarity that accompanied the religious and social life of the village. It is not only a place of worship, but a place that preserves traces of the collective memory of the town.

It can be reached easily on foot from the railway station in just a few minutes: after walking through the pedestrian tunnel, follow Via Colombo towards the sea.