The Italian Riviera: Cinque Terre's villages, Portofino's harbor, pesto where it was invented, and cliff-hugging trains.
Riviera Towns • Genoa's Palaces • Ferry Coast
Explore → Get Early AccessTrail-and-terrace weather
Riviera pacing rewards patience
The coastal line threads every town
Basil was practically invented here
Liguria is the Italian Riviera: Cinque Terre drama, Portofino polish, Genoa's gritty grandeur, and pesto eaten where basil grows best. Mountains dive into the sea here, and towns cling on gorgeously.
Genoa ruled these coasts as a maritime republic that banked half of Europe (Columbus was Genoese), and its bankers financed empires while its sailors made the Mediterranean a Ligurian lake.
Pesto alla genovese is properly made in a marble mortar, and Liguria's DOP basil is grown for tenderness, not size. The region also gave the world focaccia: locals dunk it in cappuccino at breakfast, and they're right.
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The lean is real, but the miracle is the whole field: baptistery, cathedral, camposanto and tower…
The walled city: bike the Renaissance ramparts, climb the tree-topped tower, and hear Puccini at home.
The Gonzaga city on three lakes, where Giulio Romano, Alberti, and Mantegna all left their mark.
A Catalan town on the Sardinian coast, walled against the sea and still speaking its own…
The Renaissance planned city: a moated castle downtown, palaces of diamonds, and more bicycles than anywhere…
Giotto, Galileo, and the Oldest Student City in Italy
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