10 interesting facts about Monterosso

1. A legendary place
Legend has it that the inhabitants of Albereto, a the village above in the hills, founded Monterosso.

2. The village festival

On June 24 the patron saint of Monterosso is celebrated, to whom the parish church is dedicated: San Giovanni Battista, with the traditional bonfire on the beach, called "Battiston".

3. The statue of the Giant
A love story towards one's land, a tale of emigration and misfortune.

4. The oldest picture of Monterosso
It is a seventeenth-century painting found in the Chapel of San Cristoforo, in the Monterosso cemetery. The painting depicts Saint Christopher with the Infant Jesus on his shoulders. In the background you can see Monterosso.

5. The poetic dedications in the cemetery The old castle, now a cemetery, is full of dedications to the dead on the tombstones, true elegies!

6. Montale and his poems

Speaking of poems, the Nobel laureate Eugenio Montale spent his childhood summers here. Villa Montale still exists and a Literary Park has been created.

7. Monterosso and Petrarca

Petrarca mentioned Monterosso (and Corniglia): "From here vineyards illuminated by the beneficial eye of the sun and beloved in Bacchus overlook Monterosso and the hills of Corniglia everywhere celebrated for their sweet wine".

8. A frightening church

It is the oratory of the Neri Mortis et Orationis. On the facade and inside skeletons and skulls... "Remember that you must die!"

9. A bunker at Monterosso Clearly visible near the Torre Aurora, a defense and sighting bunker from the Second World War.

10. Delicious anchovies
Typical gastronomic products of the village: anchovies, fried or canned.