Monterosso al Mare

The largest of the five — and the only one with a true beach.

The oldest village on record — first noted in 1056, though people sheltered here as far back as the 7th century. It is really two in one: the medieval old town and the newer quarter of Fegina, joined by a tunnel beneath the San Cristoforo headland.

Its long pebble beach, lemon groves and pale white wine give it an easy, sun-warmed calm. Look for Il Gigante — a fourteen-metre Neptune, built around 1910 — still bearing the weight of an old seaside terrace.