I would have loved to stay two or three days here and gotten to know each village, but as our trip was limited to a day visit, we concentrated in Monterosso al Mare. It has a cute old town and modern new town, is said to have the most restaurants, and the best people watching.
From the moment I stepped out of the car, it was the right decision.
The village is located on hills cultivated with lemons, vines and olives. The water was the most blue of anywhere I’ve ever seen. Its beautiful reefs and the crystal clear water really know how to wow visitors. The promenade is very nice with flowers everywhere you look, palm trees, aperitivo bars, pizzerias and gelato vendors.
The history of Monterosso dates back to 643 when the people living in the hills moved down to the sea, hiding from barbarian tribes. The village is named Monterosso because the ruling family used to have red hair. "Monte dei rossi" means "Mountain of the ginger-haired". Something my ginger-haired girl loved (even if I did make her wear a hat most of the day to protect her face from becoming dei rossi).
The history of Monterosso dates back to 643 when the people living in the hills moved down to the sea, hiding from barbarian tribes. The village is named Monterosso because the ruling family used to have red hair. "Monte dei rossi" means "Mountain of the ginger-haired". Something my ginger-haired girl loved (even if I did make her wear a hat most of the day to protect her face from becoming dei rossi).
We did a Rick Steves city walk through the village to give us an overview of the area. The first thing on the tour says “on the far end of the new town, you can just see the statue named Il Gigante (hard to spot because it blends in with the gray rock). It’s 45 feet tall and once held a trident.” I’m not exaggerating when I say that Adam & I stared in this direction for a good 7-8 minutes before we figured out where the statue was…
The statue was badly damaged by the powerful sea storm in 1966. According to our guide book, there is a plan for the Argentinian artist Silvio Benedetto to restore the monument. However, as with most things Italian, they’ll get to it “domani”.
We continued on, gawking at the sea until we made it into the old town.
We continued on, gawking at the sea until we made it into the old town.
The historical center of Monterosso has a really nice atmosphere with narrow medieval streets, pastel-colored houses and artisan shops. The main square - Piazza Garibaldi - hosts the town hall and the statue of Garibaldi.
A beautiful highlight in the middle of the medieval maze of streets is the Church of San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist). It was built in the Ligurian Gothic style. Its beautiful facade consists of alternating strips of white marble and green serpentine. Its bell tower was originally part of Monterosso's defense system, used as a watch tower. The Baroque altar dates back to 1744.
The baptismal font was carved from a single piece of Carrara marble in 1359 - can you imagine hauling that from the Carrara quarries 40 miles away?!?
2011 had been a really dry summer in the area. In late October it started raining. The locals were ecstatic. Then on October 25th, within 4 hours, 22 inches of rain fell. Flash floods rushed down the hills picking up mud, rocks, trees, furniture, cars and even buses in its path. The old town was buried under a dozen feet of mud. On the side of the church, they put up a plaque to show the high water mark of this flood along with the “lesser” flood of 1966 which had similar consequences. Now, you would have thought I would have taken a picture far enough back so you could appreciate the height of the water. I did not. Just know it was above my head.
We spent the rest of our time meandering the side streets of the old town.
And, of course, sampling some gelato…
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| She's turned around backwards facing the wall to protect her ice cream from her father. Her eyes are closed as she says 'mmmmmm' with every bite. |
A beautiful trip to a beautiful location.
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