Liguria

The five villages of the Cinque Terre — Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore — are among the most photographed places in Italy, and with reason: tight clusters of pastel houses stacked on cliffs and around tiny harbours, set against terraced vineyards and the deep blue sea, on a stretch of coast so rugged it stayed isolated for centuries. Today the villages are a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, car-free and linked by a frequent little train that tunnels between them, by boats in season, and by walking trails — most famously the coastal Sentiero Azzurro, including the easy, romantic Via dell'Amore between Manarola and Riomaggiore (subject to closures and works over the years), and tougher high paths through the vines. The Cinque Terre Card covers the trails and trains. Manarola at sunset, Vernazza's harbour and the one sandy beach at Monterosso are the classic images. The villages are small and extremely popular, so the rewards go to those who come outside July and August, stay overnight to enjoy them after the day-trippers leave, and walk at least one of the paths between them.

Just north of the Cinque Terre, the Gulf of Tigullio holds the most glamorous corner of the Riviera. Portofino is the jewel — a minuscule, impossibly pretty harbour ringed by ochre-and-pastel houses, with luxury boutiques and yachts crowding a piazzetta that has drawn the rich and famous for a century; above it, the Castello Brown and the church of San Giorgio give the postcard view down over the bay. Around the same headland, the protected promontory of Portofino shelters the abbey of San Fruttuoso, set on a cove reachable only by boat or by a walking trail, and the diving site of the bronze Christ of the Abyss. Nearby, elegant Santa Margherita Ligure, with its palm-lined seafront and grand hotels, makes a more affordable base, and the lively resort town of Rapallo anchors the gulf. Further along the coast, the storybook fishing village of Camogli — tall painted houses around a working harbour — and the quieter Sestri Levante, set between two bays, complete a coast made for boat trips, seafood lunches and slow coastal walks.

At the centre of the region, the great port city of Genoa is Liguria's capital and a destination in its own right — one of the largest medieval old towns in Europe, the UNESCO Rolli palaces, and the Old Port with the largest aquarium in Italy. West of the city, the Riviera di Ponente runs toward the French border as the Riviera dei Fiori, the 'Riviera of Flowers', so named for the carnations and cut-flower trade of its mild, sunny coast. Its main town is San Remo, an old-fashioned resort with a belle-époque casino, the onion domes of a Russian church, a palm-lined promenade and, above all, the Sanremo Music Festival, Italy's most famous song contest and the inspiration for Eurovision. The Ponente coast is generally sunnier and has more beaches than the dramatic Levante, with resorts like Alassio, the medieval centre of Albenga, and the caves and gardens near Ventimiglia on the frontier — including the celebrated Hanbury botanical gardens. It is the more relaxed, family-beach side of the Riviera, and the gateway between Italy and the French Côte d'Azur.

Liguria's cuisine is one of the most distinctive and beloved in Italy, born of a narrow land between mountain and sea. Above all this is the home of pesto alla genovese — the uncooked sauce of fragrant Ligurian basil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan and pecorino and the region's delicate olive oil, pounded in a marble mortar and tossed with trofie or trenette pasta, often with a few potatoes and green beans. It is also the homeland of focaccia, the soft, oil-and-salt flatbread eaten at any hour, and of the thin cheese-filled focaccia di Recco; of farinata, the baked chickpea pancake; of stuffed vegetables and the herb-filled torta pasqualina. The coast supplies anchovies (the prized ones from Monterosso), seafood and the Ligurian fish stews, while the terraced hills produce fine extra-virgin olive oil (the Taggiasca olive) and crisp white wines — Vermentino, Pigato and the sweet Sciacchetrà of the Cinque Terre. Eating your way along the Riviera, from a slice of focaccia on a harbour wall to a plate of trofie al pesto with a glass of Vermentino, is as much a part of Liguria as the views.