Bussana Vecchia: an old village near San Remo (Province of Imperia) destroyed in the 19th century by a stong earthquake and now inhabited by artists.
2,000 years ago the whole northwestern part of Italy, including what are now Piedmont and Lombardy, were inhabited by the Liguris, the people from whom this region gets its name.
Liguria is home to seaside resort towns in the style of Cannes and Monaco, dozens of sandy, rocky and pebbly beaches, in Genoa the country's largest commercial and naval port, some of its most desolate stretches of coast, and terraced hillsides that produce olive oil considered to be more delicate even than that grown in Tuscany.
Roads and trains run the length of the coast, linking the ''Riviere'' with France and the rest of Italy. There is an international airport at Genoa and a regional airport at Villa nuova di Albenga.
Whether travelling by train or by car, the spectacular journey along the Ligurian coast takes you through tunnel after tunnel, bursting out from darkness into sunlight, the sea sparkling at your side.
Traditional Ligurian food is some of the most refined in all of Italy. ''Tagliatelle'' is served in various forms here, and ''torta di verdura'' is a local speciality, a vegetable pie made with borage and other wild late-winter herbs. Seafood is very popular, as the sea around Liguria is abundant with life. Some typical dishes are:
Liguria is also the birthplace of '''pesto''' sauce.
In all Liguria provinces there's a speciality called _eFarinata_f, which consists of a thin salty, pie made with chick-pea flour which is cooked in a wood oven, similar to those used for pizza. It_fs eaten as antipasto or as a nutritious snack and can be topped with Gorgonzola, onion or Salsiccia.
White and ''passito'' grapes are given to the ''Cooperativa del Gruppo Di Riomaggiore'', a modern organization that has streamlined the winemaking process.
''Sciacchetra'' is a prestigious dry white wine produced in the ''Cinque Terre''.
Other white wines are '''Pigato''' and '''Vermentino''' (of which you can also find a variation of in Sardinia) which suffer from a bit from the salty sea climate in which the grapes grow, giving the wine a particular if not unique taste. Red wines are not so common and the only one worth mentioning is '''Rossese di Dolceacqua'''.
Liguria stretches east in a narrow ribbon along the coast from France. Mountains separate it from Piedmont to the north, Emilia-Romagna to the east and Tuscany to the south.