LIGURIA

By: MARTIN GANI

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This is a visual guide to the best of Italy's Liguria region illustrated with some 275 photos. Liguria is a fashionable, highly popular maritime region extending 350 km from Ventimiglia in the west bordering with France to La Spezia in the east. It occupies a fairly narrow strip of land barely 7.5 km at its narrowest to 36 km at its widest. Third smallest region in Italy after Val d'Aosta and Molise, Liguria is home to just over 1.5 million (Jan. 2024) and is one of the most densely populated regions in Italy. This is a land of mountains, hills and valleys, Ligurian Alps host peaks rising to 2000 metres, around 65% of the territory is made up of mountains, the rest are hills but most of the population live on the coast, in Genoa, La Spezia and dozens of picturesque resort towns that draw some 15 million tourists a year. There are four provinces: Genoa, La Spezia, Savona and Imperia, traditionally the region is divided into Riviera del Levante, to the east of Genoa comprising delightful townships like Camogli, Portofino, Rapallo, Chiavari and the most trendy Cinque Terre, the collective name attributed to the five villages: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore; beyond La Spezia are also Portovenere and Lerici equally attracting hordes of visitors before you enter Tuscany. The Riviera del Ponente on the other hand comprises the towns to the west of Genoa including popular resorts like Varazze, Spotorno, Finale Ligure, Alassio, Imperia and Sanremo, famed for its flower production and annual song contest.