Liguria

Liguria is a region on the Ligurian Sea in the north-west. It is the third smallest region in the country - a narrow ribbon of land stretching along the coast all the way to France. The coastline that stretches from Genoa to France is called Riviera di Ponente (west Riviera), while the other half is the Riviera di Levante (east Riviera) and together they are the Italian Riviera. On the latter is Liguria's internationally renowned Cinque Terre (Five Lands), a rugged portion of coast, noted for its beauty.

Liguria is divided in 4 provinces

• Genoa (GE)
• Imperia (IM)
• La Spezia (SP)
• Savona (SV)

The capital of Liguria is Genoa.

Economy

The region specialises in high-quality production of flowers, wine and olive oil. Flower production is the leading agricultural sector, followed by animal farming and vegetable growing.

During the 1950s and 1960s the years of economic boom, the steel industry was of major importance in the economy of the region. After the economic crisis of the late 1980s the steel industry lost its prominence and the region turned towards a wide range of high-quality and high-tech products including shipbuilding (yacht construction and maintenance, cruise liner building, military shipyards) electrical engineering and electronics, petrochemicals, and aerospace.

The services sector's revenue is above the national average, thanks to the application of modern technologies, particularly in commerce and tourism.

Tourism is highly developed and cleverly promoted on the strength of the region's sandy strands, rocky coves and pebbly beaches, belle époque seaside towns, and high quality food.

A good motorway network makes communications with the border regions relatively easy.

The Port of Genoa, with a trade volume of 58.6 million tonnes is the largest commercial and naval port in Italy.

Food and Wine

Liguria is where pesto is originally from, one of the most popular sauces in Italian cuisine. Seafood is a major staple of Ligurian cuisine, as the sea has been part of the region's culture since its beginning.

Of the wines produced here, two DOC wines worth mentioning are Cinque Terre, perhaps the most representative of the region's winemaking tradition, and Rossese.

Whos here now:   Members 0   Guests 1   Bots & Crawlers 0