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Liguria - Riviera dei Fiori
Liguria is a perfect place for your holidays: there, you will see the
most beautiful sunsets, swim in the Mediterranean sea, discover
enchanting views. Just think of the names of the places you can
visit: Golfo Paradiso, Golfo dei Poeti, Portovenere, Riviera dei
fiori, Riviera delle palme... If you appreciate the quiet, if
you like spending your holidays with your family, if you love
nature and enjoy a mild climate, you must come to Liguria. There,
you will also find art, culture, small villages and towns full
of history. Last but not least, you will be able to taste its
lovely and simple cuisine, where basil and fish are the main ingredients.
Have you ever tried trofiette with pesto, buridda, or focaccia?
Holiday
in Liguria
Drive across the border from France into Italy and, as you head
away from the chi chi spots of the French Riviera, you hit what
we shall call the Italian Riviera. One for the connoisseurs, this
side of the border has (to our eyes at least) more interesting
and rugged landscape, a much more interesting cuisine, and towns
that are more culturally and historically interesting than the
likes of Nice and Cannes. Holidaymakers in Genoa, the Cinque Terre,
Rapallo and the rest (and you'll find our holiday accommodation
here) will find a fascinating mix of cultures, making this narrow
strip of Mediterranean litoral an exciting Italian vacation destination.
First
some history though. Liguria has traces of occupation dating back
to prehistoric times (the Palaeolithic period to be exact). It
became an administrative region of Rome during the second century
AD, and this was merely the start of Liguria's tradition for inward
immigration. Much of this is down to Genoa's long-time status
as a major port (and in its time a republic in its own right).
This, and the sheer amount of Ligurian coastline (the shallow
region is mostly coast and mountain) has seen centuries of visitors
arriving by sea.
Liguria
vacations — some history
The typical Ligurian is hardly indigenous in fact. The physical
type, slight, with black hair and olive skin, supposedly originates
from Greek settlers who came here in pre-Christian times. Whatever
the truth of that, there has been much immigration since ... it's
one of the things that makes this such an interesting and diverse
region. The Barbarians came early on, then the Lombards (who gave
their name to neighbouring Lombardy). Normans and Saracens colonised
Liguria and Napoleon took the region in 1796. Bonaparte's invasion
saw the end of the great maritime republic of Genoa — he
was to similarly humiliate once-mighty Venice — which had
ruled the region and the seas since the thirteenth century.
Following
the fall of Napoleon, Liguria was absorbed into the Kingdom of
Savoy and Sardinia, one of the many kingdoms and principalities
that were to form the unified Italy. That came with the victory
of Garibaldi and his army in 1861 ... when the Duchy of Genoa
became merely the Italian region of Liguria.
Holiday
in Liguria — a mix of cultures
But let's not say merely, because this is one of the most interesting
and unusual regions of Italy. The multifarious cultural and racial
groupings who have squeezed themselves into this narrow strip
of land betwixt mountain and sea have created something quite
remarkable. The cuisine, which we'll get too below, was fusion
food long before fashionable chefs coined the phrase.
Some
geography then. Go to your atlas and you'll see the curious topography
of the region. Two thirds of it is mountainous and most of the
rest is hills. To the east lie the Maritime Alps, to the west
the Mediterranean (known in the curve of France and Italy as the
Ligurian Sea). To the north and west (the Riviera di Ponente)
where Liguria meets France, the land flattens, dropping gently
to the Mare Ligure; resorts and towns here include Savona, Imperia
and San Remo. From Genoa south to the coast of Tuscany, the descent
is steeper, the land climbing to the Maritime Alps and the Ligurian
Appennines: this rugged stretch is dubbed the Riveria di Levante.
Holiday
in Liguria — a lush, fertile region
The steep climb from beach to mountain causes precipitation of
course. Liguria is a rainy region, though this only makes a temperate
climate more pleasant ... it has none of the sultriness or dry
heat of some Italian regions, and is rarely cold in winter. And
the rain makes the slopes of Liguria beautifully lush. This land
may be too steep to rear much livestock, but the region is rich
in olives, grapes, vegetables and fruit.
There
are fascinating towns. Noli and Albenga are unspoiled by tourism
and each retains its medieval centro storico. There are the stunning
Cinque Terre, shoehorned into folds of the rugged Ligurian cliffs.
And you can head away from the well-trod tourist routes along
the shore, up into the hills and the likes of Santo Stefano d'Aveto,
which offer breathtakingly good hiking.
Holiday
in Liguria — eating and drinking
We mentioned the food, and the cuisine of Liguria bears, like
many of the people, the stamp of elsewhere. The food shares elements
with its northern neighbours such as Lombardy and Piedmont, but
owes as much to the southern Mediterranean, even north Africa.
The Ligurians and Genovese have a reputation for meanness, let's
be more charitable and say they are not wasteful. Meat is scarce
and what there is gets used in its entirety!
So
don't turn your nose up at ventresca di vitello piena. If you've
tried haggis you can try stuffed calf's stomach, crammed with
minced tongue, pistachios, vegetables ... and anything else that
comes to hand. The result is quite delicious. Offal features large,
and the Genovese have wonderful ways with tripe. With so much
coastline it would be surprising if fish were not a staple, and
you will enjoy anchovies, salt cod (baccala), cuttlefish stew
(burrida di seppie) and marinated fish dishes. The signature dish
of Liguria is pesto, the simple yet delicious paste of basil,
garlic, pine nuts and pecorino. For puddings, watch out for rice
cakes (torta di riso) flavoured with rosewater.
You'll
enjoy DOC white wines (mainly from the Riviera di Ponente) including
Cinque Terre, Bianchetta Genovese and Vermentino. And ensure you
check out the Cinque Terre's rich Sciacchetra dessert wine.
Liguria
... must sees
Genoa
Or 'Genova' in Italian. This superbly eclectic, and slightly disreputable
port rather evokes Marseilles. Both its people and its cuisine
are a marvellous mix of the many cultures that have built this
lovely old port. Henry James described it as 'the most winding,
incoherent of cities', and Genoa sprawls for miles along the Gulf
of Genoa. Once a great maritime empire, home to Columbus, the
port from which Garibaldi launched his unification of Italy ...
Genoa has a mighty and historic past. Now being lovingly restored
(it was European City of Culture 2004, many holidaymakers are
discovering its marvellous mix of Mediterranean Europe with Arab
flavours. The home of pesto and with a feast of seafood on the
menu. For Genoa vacation accommodation click here.
Cinque
Terre
Impossibly picturesque, the 'five lands' are a handful of villages
shoehorned into the dramatic, rugged, folded coastline, between
the beach resort of Levanto and La Spezia to the south. Monterosso,
Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore were originally
fishing villages, but have since turned to producing some rather
good white wines. The most famous vintage is the Sciacchetra dessert
wine, heavy with the flavour of raisins. Most of all though, these
stunning villages are beloved by visitors for their beauty. You
can walk between the five, enjoying fantastic views of the Gulf
of Genoa below. You'll find some 5 terre accommodation in our
Liguria listings.
San
Remo
A marvellous slice of old-world Riviera grandeur, San Remo was
a hugely fashionable resort around the turn of the twentieth century,
rivalling Nice on the French side of the Riviera. It has a casino
to rival that in Monte Carlo and still has some superbly ritzy
hotels. The heyday of the early 1900s saw the glitterati descend
from all over Europe ... there was a sizable Russian emigre community
and Tchaikovsky composed Eugene Onegin here in the 1870s. A very
classy way to enjoy the Italian Riviera.
Portofino
Another resort with that Riviera touch, Portofino has long been
fashionable with what we once called 'the jet set'. Originally
a billet for Genoa's merchant seamen, by the turn of the twentieth
century it was a quiet, though very beautiful, fishing village.
To add to its mystique, Portofino has a history buried in myth.
Pliny the Elder claimed the Romans founded the town, naming it
Portus Delphini, or Port of Dolphins, because of the large number
that frolicked in the Tigullian Gulf. Slightly more prosaically,
Portofino has been recreated as the Portofino Bay Resort at the
Universal Studios in Florida.
Discovered
by German and British holidaymakers in the 1920s, by the 1950s
tourism had supplanted the fishing boats. Portofino thus became
a favourite with, among others, Princess Grace and Richard Burton
and Liz Taylor. Set within an area of stunning natural beauty,
the protected Parco Naturale Regionale di Portofino, the town
today is a chic berth for the yachts of the rich and famous.
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Gelegen
am Mittelmeer um den Golf von Genua, begrenzt von großen
Weinbaugebieten wie der französischen Provence und den italienischen
Nachbarn Piemont, Emilia Romagna und Toscana, hat Ligurien doch
keineswegs deren Bedeutung. Spitzenweine dieser Gegend sind sicher
auch im Ausland angesehen und bekannt, das Gros der hier erzeugten
Weine geht jedoch direkt in den Verkauf vor Ort, an Einheimische
und Touristen.
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