Say “Liguria” to even the most experienced Italophile, and the name might draw a blank. Replace it with “Italian Riviera” and the response will be as radiant and warm as this sunniest of Italian regions.
Liguria is a small but diverse region that stretches along a narrow, boomerang-shaped strip of land between Tuscany and the French Riviera. Always present, visible, and audible, is the gorgeous Mediterranean, known in these parts as the Ligurian Sea.
The region’s capital is Genoa, which has the largest medieval quarter of any city in Europe. The seat of a great empire and a place that exerted remarkable influence throughout the world, Genoa is a big city in a region composed mostly of small havens. The fame of certain Ligurian places, such as Portofino, San Remo, and the Cinqueterre, is global, but the real glories of this region are the many towns known only to Ligurians, who guard them jealously.
Fred Plotkin, an expert on Italy, takes you on a virtual tour of the region known for its combination of natural beauty, exquisite cuisine, and the character of its citizens, who are distinct even in a nation as full of strong personalities as Italy. Learn what defines the heart of this incomparable area—the eternal dialogue between land and sea—and the recipes for life found in its approach to nature, culture, history, and commerce.
Plotkin, who lives in a Ligurian town on the Golfo di Paradiso (Gulf of Paradise), is the author of Recipes from Paradise: Life and Food on the Italian Riviera, selected as the best cookbook of 1997 by the New York Times.
Other Connections
Discover why Fred Plotkin calls Manuelina, a restaurant in the town of Recco “the citadel of cooking in Liguria.”
