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Monterosso al Mare


Monterosso al Mare is the largest, most populated and oldest village in the Cinque Terre. Nestled between sea and mountains, located along the coastal arch of the splendid Gulf of Poets, Monterosso is a country rich in art to discover and boasts important monuments. As a witness of the past, there is the Castle, the Aurora tower overlooking the sea and the medieval tower in the inhabited center in front of the Church of San Giovanni Battista.
  • Sea village
  • Village with park
  • UNESCO heritage
Monterosso  |
Monterosso
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Monterosso
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Monterosso
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Monterosso
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Monterosso
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Monterosso
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Monterosso
Church of San Giovanni Battista  |
Church of San Giovanni Battista
A look at Monterosso
A look at Monterosso
Cinque Terre, April 2017.
Monterosso al Mare, like all the villages of the Cinque Terre, is full of streets and narrow streets where it is nice to get lost and always find new glimpses to photograph.  | Carola Ferrero - e-borghi Community
Cinque Terre, April 2017. Monterosso al Mare, ...
Carola Ferrero - e-borghi Community

About the village

Monterosso al Mare is the largest, most populated and oldest village in the Cinque Terre, dated to the ninth century.
Strait between sea and the mountain, located along the coastal arch of the splendid Gulf of Poets, the town is divided into two parts: the area of ​​Fegina, relatively modern and characterized by a tourist-bathing facility and the old village. In the village, as a witness to the past, there is the Castle, with its elongated walls that includes the round towers, the Aurora tower overlooking the sea and the medieval tower in the town in front of the Church of St. John the Baptist.

The oldest part of the village is located below the Castle, in the vale of the stream Buranco, while over the years the town has developed on the other side of the river and on the level of the inlet, bordered to the east by the Corone peak and from the cliff of the Aurora tower.
Monterosso is a village rich in art to discover and boasts important monuments, including the fourteenth-century church of San Giovanni Battista, in Piazza della Marina, the hub of the village, in front of which stood the medieval Palazzo del Podestà, and the Capuchin convent, erected on the hill of San Cristoforo.

In Fegina you can admire the Giant of Monterosso, an imposing statue of the god Neptune in reinforced concrete, built in the early twentieth century.
The famous poet Eugenio Montale spent, together with his family, the summers of his childhood and adolescence in the famous seaside villa, named "Casa delle due Palme" in Monterosso, whose place was of great inspiration for one of his most famous lyric: "Lemons".

The lemon is a very important fruit for this village, excellent for preparing lemon liquor and anchovies with lemon, in fact at the margins of the village there are numerous lemon gardens and in the areas of Buranco and Morione you can see the beautiful lemon groves.
Every spring in Monterosso we celebrate this precious fruit with the famous Sagra dei Limoni.
One of the main activities that has been taking place for a long time in the village is fishing. Thanks to the particular salinity of the water, the Monterosso anchovies have a particularly pleasant and balanced taste, being at the same time tasty and delicate. Called u pan du ma (the bread of the sea), anchovies are a very common ingredient in Ligurian cuisine, traditionally preserved in salt.
The task of conservation was entrusted to women, who were responsible for cleaning the fish and storing it in clay pots. In fact today we celebrate the third Sunday of September this tradition with the "salted anchovy festival".
Gourmets cannot miss the opportunity to taste the monterossino, a sweet with cream, jam and chocolate, typical of Monterosso while in mid-August you cannot miss the delicious "sweet focaccia" with candied fruit, raisins and pine nuts. The typical wine is the Sciacchetrà liquor, produced with raisins and also to taste the grappa of the Cinque Terre.

Village of Monterosso
Municipality of Monterosso al Mare
Province of La Spezia
Liguria Region
Inhabitants: 1.422 monterossini
Altitude center: 12 m s.l.m.
Protected natural areas:
Area naturale marina protetta Cinque Terre
Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre
Municipality
Piazza Garibaldi 35 - tel: 0187817525
= distances as the crow flies

BY CAR

  • Exit the A12 motorway towards Levanto - Carrodano, before reaching the town of Levanto at the second roundabout take the direction for Monterosso.

BY PLANE

  • Pisa airport
  • Genoa airport
  • Lemon festival, the third Saturday of May. In the streets of the village are animated banquets of all kinds where the protagonist is; the typical fruit of the village with its derivatives: limoncino, lemon cream, jam and lemon cake.

  • Corpus Domini, in June. Among the streets of the historic center, the caruggi, an evocative decoration of the streets is begun, all made with petals of flowers that in the evening draws an evocative floral mantle on which it will then passer & agrave; the procession.

  • Festival of fried anchovy, the third Saturday of June. Tasting of the famous anchovies of Monterosso, which is already present; from the early morning they are fried in the typical iron pan in the shape of fish combined with pan fried and the famous white wine of the 5 lands.

  • Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption, August 14th. Pilgrimage that starts from the Oratory of Santa Croce with the procession of the children of the village dressed in the traditional dress of the pilgrim and goes to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Soviore. The evening fireworks show on the sea.

  • Band festival, the first Saturday of September. Show in which bands from all over Italy participate.

  • Salted anchovy festival and olive oil, the third Saturday of September. You can taste the famous salted anchovies of Monterosso in the many food stalls.

  • Wine Festival, the fourth Saturday of September. The stands of the producers of the Cinque Terre are set up and it is; You can taste the famous white doc and Sciacchetr & agrave.

Sleep, eat, buy...

Sostio a Levante
The Sostio a Levante is an agritourism immersed in the wild nature of an area that is sorrounded ...
Loc. Montebello, frazione Castagnola 1, Framura (La Spezia)
11.04 Kilometers from Monterosso al Mare
= distances as the crow flies

Monterosso al Mare is present in issue 3 of our digital magazine e-borghi travel.
Read it now!

Events

saturday
18
may, 2024

Monterosso Lemon Festival

monday
24
june, 2024

San Giovanni Battista - Patron Saint

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