Tell me about the Liguria region of Italy

It’s great. Love Rapallo.

You wanna hang around with garlic eaters, all ya gotta do is visit Martini's bar in Bedford Falls, NY.

Scenically beautiful from trains or autos. The mountains rise directly from the Mediterranean, so it's quite a dramatic setting. The Cinque Terre are there and are spectacular. Genoa is a bit grimy and industrial in spots - a real working port. Pesto is original to Liguria, and seafood from the Mediterranean is available everywhere, so you won't go hungry. There are no wide beaches, really, as the mountains plunge into the sea and below sea level also drops off immediately. People sunbathe on ledges and rocky points. I don't know what it's like in winter, I've only passed through in summer. The Carlo Felice opera house in Genoa has opera, ballet and orchestral music, but it's not the equal of La Scala of course.

Liguria is essentially the Italian Riviera, and shares cultural similarities with the French Riviera, both regions having once been united under the Kingdom of Sardinia (aka Piedmont-Sardinia). Much of the food is similar to what you'll find in Nice, only under different names. The Ligurian [italic]farinata[/italic], for instance, is like the Niçois [italic]socca[/italic]. [italic]Pesto genovese[/italic] is like [italic]la tapanade niçoise[/italic] or [italic]pistou niçois[/italic]. Ligurian [italic]la torta di cipolle[/italic] is like Niçois [italic]pissaladière[/italic].

I visited the Cinque Terre area a few years ago, staying in Monterosso al Mare for four nights and visiting the other nearby towns. This was in September. Great food everywhere and so beautiful. The only turn off was the number of people who are also visiting. It calmed down in the evening and nice for an evening walk. Next year I'm planning to visit the west side and also stay again in nearby Nice.

Genoa, "La Superba"

Manarola of the Cinque Terre

Portovenere

I've only been there on a cruise. We docked in Genoa and I took a shore excursion to Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure, and Portofino, all of which are lovely coastal towns.

I spent 5 days at the Hotel Splendido in Portofino (on the hillside).

I loved the hotel. And there was plenty to see in the area. We hiked the Cinque Terre.

There was a restaurant (I think "Stella") on a hilltop overlooking Santa Margherita Ligure. It was a small restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking miles down the coast. As soon as we sat down, they started bringing small plates of different dishes to the table to sample. I was in heaven.