The cooking of the Riviera delle Palme is rooted in Genoese tradition — olive oil, fresh herbs, seafood — but it has its own character. The cuisine here is greener and lighter than what you find in Genoa, with vegetables playing a bigger role than meat in many classic dishes.
Take ravioli, once considered the queen of first courses along this coast. Where the Genoese version leans on meat and eggs, the local filling is built around beet, borage, chicory and endives. Even the classic stuffed breast of veal uses more egg and less of the offal you find in the Genoese recipe. What ties it all together is sweet marjoram — called persa or persiga around Albenga and Alassio — an herb of Persian origin that speaks to centuries of maritime trade.
Farinata
The most traditional street food in all of Liguria is farinata di ceci, a thin, crispy chickpea pancake baked in a wood-fired oven. In Savona they call it turtellassu and insist theirs is thinner and crispier than the Genoese fainà. Savona also makes a white version from wheat flour. In certain alleys near the old port, around five in the afternoon, you can find fette con le fugassette — slices of panissa (chickpea flour set into a firm block, cut thin, and fried in olive oil).
Extra virgin olive oil
Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil is the undisputed foundation of Ligurian cooking. The taggiasca olive, grown in the valleys of Andora and the Albenga plain, produces an oil with a delicate, slightly fruity flavour and sometimes a hint of almonds. Other local varieties worth tasting include Colombaia and Pinola, the latter with a distinctive taste of pine kernels.
Artichokes
The spiny artichoke of Albenga is a genuine delicacy. Unlike most artichoke varieties, this one can be eaten raw in pinzimonio — dipped in extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, and salt. It is equally good breaded and fried, baked in an Easter artichoke pie, or stewed with lamb or kid.
Purple asparagus
The purple asparagus of Albenga is one of the finest vegetables in Italian cooking. Prized as early produce, it turns up on the menus of serious restaurants well beyond Liguria. If you see it on a menu here, order it.
Basil and pesto
Ligurian basil — baxiaicò in dialect — grown in the bracing coastal air, is the essential ingredient in pesto. Greenhouse cultivation means it is available year-round, but connoisseurs insist the best pesto comes in winter, made with small, pale green leaves grown on a balcony in the slanting light of a carrugio alley.
Truffles
The most unexpected find in the province of Savona is truffles. A few kilometres past the Colle di Cadibona, in the southern spur of the Langhe between Cairo Montenotte, Millesimo, Carcare and Dego — especially in the woods of Santa Giulia — you can find both black truffles (comparable to those of Norcia and Périgord) and the even more prized white truffle. This is the only place in Liguria where truffles grow.
Wines
The stretch of coast between Varazze and Andora produces a fine range of wines to match the local cooking. White wines dominate, led by Vermentino (DOC) — straw yellow, sometimes with golden reflections, full and dry. For reds, look for Rossese d'Albenga, a rosé with real character, and Ormeasco, a sturdy red that pairs well with the local rabbit, lamb and kid dishes.