Monterosso is the largest of the Cinque Terre and the only one with a true beach: sand and umbrellas beneath the statue of the Giant, the concrete Neptune of 1910 holding up a terrace from the cliff. The old village, behind the tower, lives on alleyways, salted anchovies and lemons.
Eugenio Montale's family summered here: the hills of his "Cuttlefish Bones", with walls "topped with sharp shards of bottle glass", are these. The trails to Vernazza and the Soviore sanctuary repay every step with blue.
The Monterosso al Mare guide
Near Monterosso al Mare
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
