The 12th-century late Romanesque church of San Juan Bautista is attached to a 10th-century Berber tower, which is 18 metres tall with a 9.4x7.4 metre floor plan and 1.75-metre thick walls on all of its three floors. Originally it was built with the rammed earth technique but then the structure was changed to stonework. The access door to the tower is hidden in a passageway that connects the tower to the church. Later on, the windows were opened up to place bells inside, and the tower was covered with a roof.
References:Manarola is a small town, a frazione of the comune of Riomaggiore. It is the second-smallest of the famous Cinque Terre towns frequented by tourists, with a population of 353.
Manarola may be the oldest of the towns in the Cinque Terre, with the cornerstone of the church, San Lorenzo, dating from 1338. The local dialect is Manarolese, which is marginally different from the dialects in the nearby area. The name 'Manarola' is probably a dialectical evolution of the Latin, 'magna rota'. In the Manarolese dialect this was changed to 'magna roea' which means 'large wheel', in reference to the mill wheel in the town.
Manarola's primary industries have traditionally been fishing and wine-making. The local wine, called Sciacchetrà, is especially renowned; references from Roman writings mention the high quality of the wine produced in the region.