Liguria is a long, thin coastal strip nestling at the foot of vine - covered mountains.
Here pastel - coloured houses bask in the Mediterranean sun, while their gardens, flourishing in the climate, are a riot of colourful plants. In contrast with resorts like Portofino and even San Remo, the bustling city of Genoa, for centuries a trading port of immense power, is the only major population centre.
Genoa has a long history as a seafaring power, achieving greatness first as a trading post with ancient Greece and Phoenicia, and later, as the capital of a small commercial empire that at one stage eclipsed even Venice.
It was only in the early 19th century with unification fervour spreading thanks to native son Giuseppe Mazzini and the revolutionary Garibaldi, that Liguria ever recaptured a glimpse of its former prominence.
Today, sheltered by the steep slopes that rise up from the sea, houses of faded elegance lie all along the coast, particularly in San Remo, where aristocrats came to spend the winter in gracious mansions at the end of the 19th century.