Torre Aurora

Torre Aurora stands on the rocky promontory between Monterosso al Mare's medieval borgo and Fegina. The sixteenth-century watchtower rises above the sea and is a familiar feature of views across the village.

Why it matters

The tower formed part of Monterosso's historic defensive system. Genoa built it in the sixteenth century, when corsair raids on the Ligurian coast made watchtowers a matter of survival, and the Cinque Terre National Park includes it among the elements of the village's defensive system, together with the castle walls above and the lookout tower that now serves as the parish church's bell tower. Three such towers survive in Monterosso, and the Aurora - raised on the cliff at the foot of the San Cristoforo hill, exactly between the two beaches - is the one that fixes the village's geography in a single glance.

What to notice

Set on the rock edge, the tower faces the gulf toward the borgo antico and the open water toward Fegina. The castle ruins rise behind it, while the church bell tower stands across the roofs. The promontory's reddish rock gives the tower its footing. From the terrace level, the view extends across the bay from Punta Mesco to the headland.

Context and history

The tower belongs to the second, Genoese phase of Monterosso's fortifications. The community had fortified itself from the early thirteenth century, but the great corsair scares of the sixteenth century - the era of Barbary raids along this entire coast - pushed the Republic of Genoa to strengthen and rebuild the lookout chain, and the Aurora was raised as part of that programme on the foot of the hill where the castle's own walls already stood. The standing tower dates to the sixteenth century; a claim that a watchpost stood here around the year 1000 is not supported by the cited park and municipal histories. As the raiding threat receded, the tower lost its military function. It is now in private use, with panoramic terraces and a restaurant.