Bradt: Liguria

The only in-depth guide to Liguria, a mountainous region of dizzy passes and breath-taking views where mountains plunge down into the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean. Liguria will leave you awestruck by its beauty. The narrow strip of coast includes the gems of the world famous Italian Riviera, the great port city of Genoa, the glitzy resort of Portofino and the charms of the Cinque Terre. Yet in the hinterland there are many beautiful villages and mountain walks that have yet to be discovered by tourists. The walks vary in difficulty so are accessible to all. Many of the walks and cycle routes featured in the book are through beautiful wilderness.Unlike other guides to the region, Liguria includes a detailed description of the mountains and their hilltop villages. With a strong regional identity all of its own, Liguria is almost a country within a country. The spectacular scenery, the mediaeval towns, quaint fishing ports and the wonderful food have attracted some of the world's most famous writers among them Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley, Henry James, Dickens, Maupassant, D H Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Dylan Thomas. Tourists flock to the Cinque Terre and Portofino but many of the other resorts have few foreign visitors so Liguria has the best of both world's to offer the visitor the big names on the Mediterranean destination list and mountain villages and small fishing ports which are almost exclusively Italian.