ITALIANO
ENGLISH
HansHolidiary 
3 Comments Italian food tour, part 3: Liguria
When I think of Liguria, the first things that spring to mind are the colours and fragrances of the flowers and herbs that grow in abundance on the coastline and of course my all-time favourite painting, Bordighera by Claude Monet:
Despite the fact that this amazing canvas is owned by the Art Institute of Chicago, I have had the honour of seeing it twice: the first time in Spring 1988 in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the second exactly nine years ago, on my birthday in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam!
But let’s calm down and get back to Liguria… I’d say the herbs I mentioned above are the key factor to its cuisine, combined with suberb vegetables. No wonder the most famous item is pesto!
Ligurian cuisine is quite oddly un-Italian in certain ways. Probably because of the natural barriers formed by the mountains and the constant flow of foreign visitors to its harbours a rich and wonderful mix of French, Catalan, Greek and Arab elements form its base.
The second most famous Ligurian food is arguably the bread: the Focaccia. Although some sort of focaccia is made in many parts of Italy, purists will claim that only in Liguria, at the baker’s, you will be able to enjoy true focaccia…
But surely there’s more to Liguria than pesto and focaccia, I can hear you think. Well, let’s see how many recipes and anecdotes we can collect in the comments section below!
by Hans
Very informative article: I have been to Liguria a month ago and I realised how much all the ingredients are important to make the real pesto alla genovese and focaccia.
Thanks Marco, I remember one time when wandering along the coastline somewhere near Camogli a local friend explained to me how the mild climate not only allows palm trees to grow, but also ensures the growth of a wide range of excellent quality produce and herbs! One example of the quality is the fact that many of the region’s flowers are used in renowned perfumes in France and Italy.
If you can’t find the chickpea flour near you, it can be oerrded from BuonItalia on the internet. Sorry, I forgot to note in the recipe to pour the olive oil on top before baking. Also, eat it when it is right out of the oven and very hot as it isn’t very good when it cools. My family doesn’t add any onions but we do sprinkle some grated parmigiano on top after baking sometimes. My family is in the entroterra, the Val Fontanabuona, so, as anywhere in Italy, they have their own version of the recipe.