The western door to the Cinque Terre, Monterosso faces a trasparent water bay and differs from the others four villages both for its topografic peculiarity and its wide beach.

The village stands in a difensive shape: in the middle the churc dedicated to St.John the Baptist with an embattled belfry (early a sight tower) and high on the village the ruins of a Middle Ages castle.

The name Monterosso derives from latin "Monsruber"; the village for someone was founded by ancient Ligurians and Romans settlers, for others by the villagers of Soviore, formely escaped from distruction of the near town of Alboreto by the Longobards (VII century).

In the second part of XIII century, after struggles among feudatories, it was annexed to the Republic of Genoa.
Monterosso knew Saracens raids and supported in 1545 almost entirely the last attack, the fiercest, which put to fire and sword the Cinqueterre.