Eating Well in the Italian Riviera

Eating Well in the Italian Riviera

In Liguria, you may find pansoti (round pockets of pasta filled with a cheese mixture) and trofie (doughy, short pasta twists sometimes made with chestnut flour) with salsa di noci, an intense sauce of garlic, walnuts, and cream that, as with pesto, is ideally pounded with a mortar and pestle. Spaghetti allo scoglio is mixed with a tomato-based sauce containing an assortment of local frutti di mare (seafood). Fish is the best for a second course: the classic preparation is a whole grilled or baked whitefish -- branzino (sea bass) and orata (dorado) are good choices -- served with olives, potatoes, Ligurian spices, and a drizzle of olive oil. A popular meat dish is cima alla Genovese, veal roll stuffed with a mixture of eggs and vegetables and rolled, served as a cold cut. You should also try the succulent agnello (lamb), coniglio (rabbit), and fresh wild mushrooms foraged from the hills.

When you're hankering for a snack, turn to bakeries and small eateries serving focaccia, the flat bread that's the region's answer to the pizza. It comes simply salted and dribbled with olive oil; flavored with rosemary and olives; covered with cheese or anchovies; and even ripiena (filled), usually with cheese and/or vegetables and herbs. Local vineyards produce mostly light and refreshing whites such as Pigato, Vermentino, and Cinque Terre. Rossese di Dolceacqua, from near the French border, is the best red wine the region has to offer, but for a more robust accompaniment to meats opt for the more full-bodied reds of the neighboring Piedmont region.