Ligurian food is built on herbs, olive oil and the sea rather than meat. The dishes not to miss are pesto made with Genoese basil, focaccia (both the Genoese kind and the cheese focaccia of Recco), chickpea farinata, trofie pasta, pansoti with walnut sauce and, on the western Riviera, sardenaira and brandacujun. Here is what they are, where they come from and where to eat them in Liguria.
- The icon: pesto, made with PDO Genoese basil
- Street food: focaccia, farinata, panissa and fritters
- Protected products: Genoese basil PDO, Riviera Ligure olive oil PDO, Ligurian salted anchovies PGI, Recco cheese focaccia PGI
- Western Riviera: Taggiasca olives, sardenaira, brandacujun, barbagiuai
- Sweets: Genoese pandolce, baci from Alassio
- Where: bakeries and sciamadde in Genoa, Recco for focaccia, Monterosso for anchovies
Pesto and PDO Genoese basil
Pesto alla genovese is made with basil, pine nuts, garlic, aged cheese (Parmigiano and pecorino), coarse salt and extra virgin olive oil. Tradition calls for a marble mortar and a wooden pestle. The first written recipe appeared in the 19th century, in Giovanni Battista Ratto’s “Cuciniera genovese”.
The key is Genoese basil PDO (Basilico Genovese DOP), recognised in 2005: small oval leaves and a full aroma, without the minty note of other basils. Every two years Genoa’s Palazzo Ducale hosts the world pesto championship, made by mortar. You’ll find pesto on trofie and trenette, in lasagne and even in Genoese minestrone.
Focaccia: Genoese and Recco
Genoese focaccia (“fügassa”) is low, oily and dimpled, topped with coarse salt. Locals eat it at any hour, even for breakfast dipped in a cappuccino. Focaccia di Recco col formaggio PGI (2015) is a different thing altogether: two paper-thin sheets of unleavened dough with soft fresh cheese in between that melts in the oven. Its rules limit production to Recco, Sori, Camogli and Avegno.
To try it where it was born, read our guide to Recco focaccia: every year, on the fourth Sunday of May, the town gives it away free at the Festa della Focaccia.
Farinata and panissa: the chickpea
Farinata is a thin chickpea-flour flatbread made with water, salt and olive oil, baked in large copper pans in a wood-fired oven. Crisp outside, soft inside, it’s eaten hot. If you’ve been to Nice, it’s the same family as socca. In Savona there is also a “white” version made with wheat flour.
Panissa starts from the same ingredients, cooked like polenta: it’s left to set, cut into sticks and fried, or served in seasoned cubes. In Genoa you’ll find it in the sciamadde, shops with a wood oven that’s always lit; the historic street for fried food is Sottoripa, by the port. More addresses in our guide to what to eat in Genoa.
Pasta: trofie and pansoti
Trofie are short, hand-twisted pasta from the Golfo Paradiso, between Sori, Recco and Camogli; in Sori they have a municipal De.Co. label. They’re the classic pasta for pesto.
Pansoti (“pot-bellied”) are ravioli filled with wild herbs (preboggion), eggs and prescinsêua, a slightly sour Genoese curd cheese. They’re served with walnut sauce. In Levanto, try gattafin, fried ravioli with greens and cheese.
Savoury pies and festive dishes
Torta pasqualina is the queen of vegetable pies: very thin layers of pastry, chard, prescinsêua and whole eggs that appear in every slice. It’s made at Easter; the rest of the year look for torta verde and stuffed vegetables.
Cappon magro is the dish for big celebrations, especially Christmas: layers of fish and vegetables on sailors’ biscuits, bound by a green sauce of parsley, pine nuts and anchovies. Nobody quite agrees where the name comes from.
From the sea: anchovies and fried fish
The signature fish is the anchovy. Acciughe sotto sale del Mar Ligure, Ligurian salted anchovies, have been PGI since 2008. In Monterosso salted anchovies are a Slow Food Presidium, tied to traditional fishing and the feast of St Peter on 29 June. You’ll eat them fried, stuffed, marinated or salted.
In Genoa’s fried-food shops ask for fritto misto and frisceu, savoury fritters. In Moneglia, on the eastern Riviera, they also make scabeggio, fried fish marinated in vinegar and sage.
The western Riviera: Taggiasca olives, sardenaira and brandacujun
Towards France the food changes. Taggiasca olives are named after Taggia and give a mild oil that can carry the Riviera Ligure PDO. They turn up everywhere, including in Ligurian-style rabbit.
Sardenaira, born in Sanremo, is a thick focaccia with tomato, anchovies, Taggiasca olives, garlic and oregano; its historic name is pissalandrea, and the onion version is Nice’s pissaladière. In Ventimiglia the local take is called pisciadela and holds a municipal De.Co. label. Brandacujun is stockfish whipped with potatoes, olive oil and parsley, served warm. Inland, in Apricale, look for barbagiuai, large fried ravioli filled with pumpkin and cheese. In Taggia, savoury olive-oil canestrelli come with your aperitivo.
Further east, on the Albenga plain, grows the purple asparagus, a Slow Food Presidium: see Albenga’s local produce.
Sweets and wine
The Christmas cake is Genoese pandolce, with raisins, candied fruit and pine nuts: the tall, leavened version is the original, the low one is more recent. In Alassio buy baci, two hazelnut-cocoa biscuits joined with chocolate; in Ventimiglia the castagnola, in Dolceacqua the michetta.
To drink: the white Vermentino and Pigato, Rossese di Dolceacqua, Liguria’s first DOC (1972), and Sciacchetrà, the sweet passito of the Cinque Terre. More in our guide to Ligurian wines.
The recipes, one by one
To cook the dishes in this guide at home, we have written the traditional recipes one by one: pesto, Genoese focaccia, farinata, testaroli, pansoti with walnut sauce, cima alla genovese, stuffed anchovies, torta pasqualina and more. You will find them all on the Ligurian recipes page.
Where to eat Ligurian food
- Genoa: focaccia in the morning at bakeries, farinata and panissa in the sciamadde, pesto and pansoti in trattorias.
- Recco and Camogli: PGI cheese focaccia, hot from the oven.
- Cinque Terre: anchovies in Monterosso, with a glass of local white.
- Riviera dei Fiori: sardenaira at Sanremo bakeries, pisciadela and fresh produce at Ventimiglia’s covered market.
Frequently asked questions
What are the typical dishes of Liguria?
Pesto alla genovese, Genoese and Recco focaccia, farinata, trofie with pesto, pansoti with walnut sauce, torta pasqualina, cappon magro, anchovies and, on the western Riviera, sardenaira and brandacujun.
What is farinata?
A thin flatbread of chickpea flour, water, salt and olive oil, baked in copper pans in a wood-fired oven. It’s eaten hot, in Genoa mostly in the sciamadde.
Is pesto genovese a PDO product?
Pesto itself isn’t: the PDO is Genoese basil, its main ingredient. Riviera Ligure olive oil is PDO too.
What’s the difference between Genoese and Recco focaccia?
Genoese focaccia is leavened, low and oily. Recco focaccia is PGI and unleavened: two paper-thin sheets of dough with fresh cheese in the middle.
What are Taggiasca olives?
The typical olive variety of western Liguria, named after Taggia. They’re eaten as table olives and give a mild oil.