Liguria
The Italian Riviera
Liguria
Regional Food Guide
Liguria is a narrow coastal strip between the Alps and the Ligurian Sea – one of the most topographically dramatic regions in Italy. The coastline runs from the French border to Tuscany, and the food is shaped entirely by that geography. Olive oil, basil, seafood, and the pine nuts and anchovies that run through almost everything. This guide covers what defines Ligurian cooking.
Featured Recipe
Buridda di Seppie
Buridda is Liguria’s seafood stew – cuttlefish slow-cooked with peas and potatoes. It is the kind of dish that the fishing villages along the Ligurian coast have been making for centuries, and one of the most overlooked recipes from this part of Italy. Simple to cook at home, and completely unlike anything you will find in an Italian restaurant outside Liguria.
Latest Liguria Recipes
Liguria punches well above its size when it comes to culinary influence – pesto, focaccia and farinata are known across Italy and beyond. But the region has a deeper recipe catalogue than most people realise. These are the recipes from further along the coast and further up into the hills.
Ingredient in Focus
Anchovies
Anchovies are used across Italian cooking, but Liguria has one of the country’s most serious anchovy traditions. The acciughe di Monterosso – salt-cured by hand in Monterosso al Mare in the Cinque Terre – have IGP status and are considered among the finest in Italy. In Ligurian cooking, anchovies appear as a base flavour in seafood stews and pasta dishes rather than as a topping. They dissolve into olive oil and build a depth of flavour that defines the local cuisine.