Liguria Geography

Liguria's defining feature is how little flat land it has -- the Ligurian Alps and Apennines rise directly behind a coastline that in many places leaves only a narrow shelf for towns, roads, and railways. Where agriculture exists at all, it's often on terraces (fasce) cut into steep hillsides and held in place by dry-stone walls, used for vineyards, olive groves, and the basil that gives pesto alla genovese its name.

The coast is conventionally split into the Riviera di Levante (east of Genoa, toward La Spezia and the Cinque Terre) and the Riviera di Ponente (west of Genoa, toward the French border and Sanremo) -- a division based on the direction of the rising and setting sun rather than any administrative boundary.