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The basics of Ligurian Cuisine:

If you want to really enjoy Ligurian cuisine, here is a short glossary based on typical recipes and ingredients.

Basil. It is a sweet herb with an unmistakable perfume. It is a special ingredient of Ligurian cuisine. It was once cultivated on the terrace gardens overlooking the sea while nowadays it is kept in greenhouses during wintertime and grows in fields in spring and summer. The European Union has been recently asked to award Genoese Basil with the D.O.P. certification (i.e. Denominazione di Origine Protetta - Protected Denomination of Origin).

Pesto. It is the most famous and typical Ligurian sauce and basil is its main ingredient. Its name refers to the way it is prepared: garlic, coarse salt and basil leaves are carefully pounded in a stone mortar with a olive wood pestle so as to get a thick sauce. Then add pine seeds and cheese. This is what a recipe states: "one portion of grated seasoned Sardinian cheese and two portions of three-year-old parmesan, pounding with a rotating motion so as to get an homogeneous sauce. Then add olive oil drop by drop until you reach the desired degree of thickness". According to some scholars, pesto came to Genoa from the East in the Middle Ages. It goes pretty well with white wine. In 1999 a committee was founded to promote the D.O.P. certification for Genoese Pesto.

Focaccia. This type of pizza probably dates back to the Middle Ages when it was a typical dish for common people - and it was likely the only meal in the morning. It goes well with white wine.

Farinata. It is a thin layer of pasta made of chickpeas that is put in a copper saucepan and baked in a wood-burning oven. It has Saracen origins and several homologues can be found in the Mediterranean area and Near East.

Ligurian pasta. Trofie: small gnocchi made of white or chestnut flour and their name probably refers to the motion - strafuggià, i.e. rubbing - made by the women who lived in Recco valley while making this type of home-made pasta. Trofie were then sold to local restaurants or to connoisseurs. Fregamai, from Western Liguria, and schianchi, from Genoa, are also a sort of handmade gnocchi. Trenette: a sort of tagliatelle. They are considered as the Liguria pasta par excellence. Ravioli: there is a reference in twelfth-century documents of "ravioli made of cheap bran" prepared by the innkeepers of Raviolo.

Condiggion. It is a mixed salad made of peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, tuna fish, anchovies, hard-boiled eggs, capers, etc. It is perfect in summer.

Pissalandrea. It is a type of pizza which lacks tomatoes. Chopped onions, spices and capers are used instead. It has been suggested that its name refers to Andrea Doria, who was born in Oneglia, and was thus called "all'Andrea", but the correct etymology is probably different. In the area between Imperia and the border with France, this pizza is also called sardenaira because of the sardine sauce that is used.

Salt anchovies. Sanremo, Finale Ligure, Noli, Genoa, Camogli, Recco, Santa Margherita Ligure, Cinque Terre (Monterosso especially) and Porto Venere are the places along Ligurian coast where anchovies are still crafty preserved. Anchovies are washed, cleaned, opened and then put in glass or earthenware pots that are sealed with a thin slate. They are pickled or marinated in lemon and vinegar. They can then be served as starters.

Ciuppin. It is a fish soup (dentex, swallow-fish, sargo or rock fish). The fish has to be cleaned (its fish bone removed), sliced and then cooked in a saucepan with tomatoes and other vegetables. The soup has to boil and then is poured in soup plates with toast bread.