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monterosso al mare |
| Tucked into a bay on the east side of the jutting headland of Punta
Mesco, MONTEROSSO is the chief village of the Cinque Terre. It's also
the largest of the five - population 1800 - and most developed, with the
modern beach resort of Fegina occupying the shore just west of the old
village. Beaches, both free and toll, are broad and picturesque; they're
separated from the narrow lanes of the old quarter by a hill, atop which
is the seventeenth-century Convento dei Cappuccini . In the centre of
the old village is the striped thirteenth-century church of San Giovanni
Battista . Monterosso's most recent claim to fame is as the hometown of
the Nobel Prize-winning poet Eugenio Montale; his Ossi di Seppia (Cuttlefish
Bones) is a collection of early poems about his youth in Monterosso. Monterosso has the Cinque Terre's sole official tourist office , on Via del Molo (tel 0187.817.204, www.aptcinqueterre.sp.it ; June-Sept), as well as a Pro Loco tourist association office at Via Fegina 38 (tel 0187.817.506). Top hotel is the Porto Roca , Via Corone 1 (tel 0187.817.502, fax 0187.817.692, www.portoroca.it ; L300,000-400,000/¬154.94-206.58; March-Oct) in a blissful location with sea-views from every room. Villa Adriana , Via IV Novembre 23 (tel 0187.818.109, fax 0187.818.128; L150,000-200,000/¬77.47-103.29), has its own beach and even some car-parking space. The Degli Amici , Via Buranco 36 (tel 0187.817.544, fax 0187.817.424, www.cinqueterre.it/hotel_amici ; L120,000-150,000/¬61.98-77.47) is nicely situated away from the hubbub; its unremarkable rooms all have private baths. Punta Mesco , near the rail bridge at Via Molinelli 35 (tel & fax 0187.817.495; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98) has the cheapest rooms in town. Pick of the restaurants is Il Gigante on Via IV Novembre (tel 0187.817.401; closed Mon), with pricey but excellent Ligurian cuisine. |