Though it’s served with a fork and spoon, it’s hard to keep your hands off the chef Massimo Bottura’s famous recreation of the coveted corner slice of lasagna. The crispy tower begs to be broken apart with your fingers, the rich ragù and aerated béchamel scooped up, nacho-like, from the plate…

“Buono!” exclaimed Fernanda, breaking off a golden corner of my first, freshly baked pandolce, a traditional holiday cake from Liguria, the Italian Riviera. She examined the crisp, cookie-like surface and tender interior of the dessert, as the sweet aroma of toasted anise and candied orange…

Winemaking in Liguria is not for wimps. In fact, at some of the vineyards I’ve visited, this craft could be considered downright heroic. Most of the region is besieged by rugged, mountainous terrain: poor, rocky soil dominated by steep hillsides that often fall directly into the sea...

Meet corzetti (also known as croxetti), a medallion-shaped pasta that is embossed using an intricate, hand-carved wooden stamp, part of an ancient Ligurian tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. Genoa, Liguria’s capital city, was once a powerful maritime empire and..

Full disclosure: chef Alice Delcourt is a close friend of mine. Fuller disclosure? We became friends only after I discovered and fell in love with her restaurant on a picturesque canal a bit outside central Milan. She runs Erba Brusca with her partner, sommelier and maître d’ Danilo Ingannamorte…

There are plenty of adorable medieval villages nestled in the hills of Liguria’s entroterra, a remote inland countryside oft overlooked by travelers. I have explored many of them and, while each has something to offer, there is one dynamic, brightly-colored town that caught my attention...

Admittedly, it’s nothing like the golden, pillowy, dimpled focaccia you associate with the name. This delicacy is something entirely different–unleavened, hardly even focaccia at all in the traditional sense of the word. Yet it is the most decadent version of them all…

Salt. It is the first thing to hit your tongue: sharp, decisive, but not overwhelming. Next, floral, slightly acidic notes of extra virgin olive oil fill your nose as your mouth is coated with a rich, satiny veil. Your teeth break through the crisp, golden surface and meet a pillowy, almost creamy, interior crumb. As you close your eyes and swallow, a final hint of…