Focaccia di Recco

What is focaccia di Recco?

The dough is simple: flour, water, extra virgin olive oil and salt, no yeast. It is stretched by hand until you can almost see through it, laid in a large baking tray, dotted with pieces of cheese and covered with a second sheet, which is torn in a few places to let the steam out. A very hot oven does the rest in a few minutes.

The result is thin, with a crisp, golden, blistered top and melted, creamy cheese underneath. The cheese is crescenza or stracchino: the official rules require a soft fresh cheese made from pasteurised cow’s milk.

How it differs from Genoese focaccia

Genoese focaccia, “fügassa”, is leavened, a couple of fingers thick, topped with olive oil and salt, and eaten even at breakfast. Recco’s is a different product, closer to a filled pastry. Both are covered in our guide to what to eat in Genoa.

History: legends and facts

Two stories are told about its origins. One links it to the time of the Saracen raids, when people cooked with whatever little they had. The other speaks of a focaccia of semolina and cheese served in 1189 to Ligurian crusaders at the abbey of San Fruttuoso. These are handed-down tales: no documents prove them.

The facts are more recent. Cheese focaccia as we know it today is tied to Recco’s focaccerias and trattorias of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the oldest still mentioned has been open since 1885. After the war it became the symbol of the rebuilt town, together with water polo. In 2005 producers founded the Consorzio Focaccia di Recco, and in 2015 the European Union granted it IGP status.

How to spot the real focaccia di Recco

Outside the IGP area you will often find “focaccia al formaggio”: it can be good, but it is not focaccia di Recco. To be sure:

• it must be made in Recco, Camogli, Sori or Avegno;
• look for the Consorzio’s IGP logo at the venue or on the menu;
• it should arrive straight from the oven, never reheated or frozen;
• the pastry is very thin and almost translucent, with no soft bread inside;
• the cheese is fresh and creamy, not stringy like mozzarella.

Where to eat it

In Recco you will find it in bakeries, focaccerias and restaurants, especially in the centre, around Via Roma and the streets near the sea. In bakeries it is sold by the slice and eaten standing, perhaps on the seafront; in restaurants you order a whole one to share and wait, because it is baked to order. We don’t do rankings: pick a place that displays the IGP logo and bakes it fresh.

The best times are lunch and dinner: by mid-afternoon bakeries may have sold out of cheese focaccia. Camogli and Sori follow the same rules. In Genoa and elsewhere in Italy many places serve it, but it cannot be called focaccia di Recco IGP.

The Recco Focaccia Festival

The festival began in 1955 and since 2006 has been run by the Consorzio and the town council. It takes place every year on the fourth Sunday of May: bakers and the Consorzio hand out tens of thousands of free portions at stands across the centre.

In 2026 it was on Sunday 24 May, with activities for children on the Saturday. Plain and onion focaccia were handed out from the morning, IGP cheese focaccia from early afternoon. Stands were set up around Piazza Nicoloso, Via XX Settembre, Via Vittorio Veneto, Via Roma and Via Assereto, with the main stage in front of the town hall and eating contests.

Practical tips: come by train, because parking fills up early; join the queue for cheese focaccia before handouts begin; stay for a walk along the seafront or take the boat to Camogli.

The focaccette of Megli

In April the hill hamlet of Megli holds another festival, the Sagra delle focaccette, which reached its 54th edition in 2026, with free tastings on Sunday afternoon. Focaccette are a different speciality from cheese focaccia.