It existed from 1 January 1944 until 28 April 1945.Monterosa is Italian taken from the name of the Monte Rosa, a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, between Italy's and Switzerland's.

In October 1944, the Division was sent to protect the Gothic Line, arriving at the 29th and being attacked by the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in the Serchio area.

Four Italian officers of the Monterosa division were found guilty for the death of 33 forced labourers at Col du Mont Fornet in the Valle d'Aosta on 26 January 1945, who perished in an avalanche while forced to carry military supplies to a mountain outpost despite severe weather conditions.

[1] In September 1946, three soldiers of the Monterosa Division were tried by an American military court for the murder of Lieutenant Alfred Lyth, an airman of the United States Army Air Forces.

However, in January 1951, to the shock and anger of local U.S. officials, Minister of Justice Attilio Piccioni declared the four men to be political prisoners and granted them amnesty.