Liguria Culture

Pesto alla genovese -- basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and Parmigiano or Pecorino cheese, traditionally ground with a mortar and pestle -- is Liguria's best-known culinary export, and the basil grown in Genoa's own Prà district carries its own protected designation. Focaccia, in its plain Genoese form and in the cheese-filled version from the town of Recco, is a genuine daily staple rather than a tourist snack.

Genoa's Ligurian dialect (Zeneize) remains spoken by some residents alongside standard Italian, a legacy of the city's long independence as a maritime republic. The Cinque Terre villages retain a working fishing-and-wine-terrace identity even as tourism has become their dominant economy, while Sanremo, on the Riviera di Ponente, is better known for its flower-growing industry and for hosting Italy's most prominent annual popular song festival.