One of five communities in a rugged area of coastline on the Italian Riviera known as Cinque Terre, the town of Monterosso al Mare occupies a beautiful location at the apex of a wide bay on the Ligurian Sea, in the Italian province of La Spezia. The well-protected, beautiful beaches here attract huge numbers of tourists in the summer. There are two towns here: a new, modern town that caters for many of the summer tourists and an older town, which sits behind the heavy fortifications to defend against attacks by Vikings and pirates. There are few cars here and the tunnel linking the two parts of town generally contains pedestrians only. It is possible to reach hotels in Monterosso al Mare by road using the E80 Euroroute, but the winding mountain road from the expressway is hard work. The town is well-served by main services on the coastal railway line. The old mule tracks that used to be the main logistics link between villages in the area today offer outstanding scope for hikes. A fair amount of the old Genoese castle remains on the rocky point jutting into the sea. An ornately-decorated old cemetery occupies the hill next door.

other spellings: monterosso al marehotels, mounteroso almare hotell, montorosso al mar hote