San Giovanni Battista Church, Gothic church in Monterosso al Mare, Italy

San Giovanni Battista is a Gothic church featuring a distinctive striped facade of white and dark green marble, with an ornate central rose window as its focal point. The interior displays simple stone vaults and columns arranged in clean proportions, creating a sense of openness and light.

The parish church was built between the 13th and 14th centuries and restructured in the Baroque era; the facade is dated 1307. Its bell tower began as a watchtower of the fortifications raised by the Republic of Genoa in the 13th century, with Ghibelline merlons. It was heightened in the 15th century and partly rebuilt in the 18th century after an earthquake damaged it.

The parish church hosts the baptismal font carved in 1360, still the one used for the sacrament today. On the right wall of the presbytery hangs a Madonna del Rosario from the school of Luca Cambiaso, while an anonymous 17th-century Genoese painter's Crucifixion faces it on the left. The main altar and wooden choir stalls were commissioned in 1734.

The church is centrally located in Monterosso and easily accessed from the coastal paths or town center, with free entry during daylight hours. Markers on the exterior walls show flood levels from past centuries, providing a reminder of the natural challenges that the coastal village faces.

The bell tower features Gothic mullioned windows, a distinctive defensive design that reveals its original purpose as a medieval watch structure protecting the coast. This combination of religious and protective functions is uncommon among churches in the region, making it a rare example of how coastal communities merged daily safety with spiritual practice.